The Price of Making a Living: 16pct of Jakarta Residents Open to Getting Covid-19

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Sixteen percent of Jakarta residents expressed willingness to contract the Covid-19 virus if that were the price to pay for making a living and feeding their families, said a survey by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

NTU sociologist Sulfikar Amin revealed the survey results during a webinar on July 5.

Sulfikar said the survey showed 11 percent of Jakarta residents are willing to be infected by the Covid-19 virus, while 4 percent are very willing to contract the virus.

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In contrast, almost four in every 10 (or 37 percent) survey respondents said they were not willing to risk themselves and contract the virus, while another 27 percent were "very unwilling" to get infected.

The survey also asked respondents which was more important to them - health or the economy.

Around 81 percent of respondents cited both health and the economy as equally important. Only 16 percent ranked the economy to be more important than their health.

“What we need to underline here is that 16 percent of respondents think that the economy is very important,” said Sulfikar.

These findings, particularly the percentage of respondents willing to be infected by the Covid-19 virus

should raise the attention of the Jakarta Provincial Government namely those who are willing to be infected by the Covid-19 virus.

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These groups carry the biggest likelihood to spread the infectious Covid-19 virus given their view that economic needs are far greater than their health.

Sulfikar suggested that the Jakarta Provincial Government assess the welfare of those who are open to contracting the virus.

The three biggest groups that stated their openness to being infected by the Covid-19 virus are daily workers, non-profit organization workers, and unemployed persons.

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