Survey shows that 43% of respondents have already tested for coronavirus

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Mar 10 2021

According to the current BfR-Corona-Monitor of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), 43 percent of the respondents have already had themselves tested for the virus. The survey, which has been conducted regularly for almost a year now, documents how the population is dealing with the situation, what they are doing to protect themselves and how they are informing themselves about the current events.

For 50 weeks now, our survey has provided insights into the current situation and its development. Over time, we see that the vast majority of the population is implementing the key protective measures."

Dr. Andreas Hensel, Professor and President, German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment

BfR-Corona-Monitor as to 2-3 March 2021: https://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/349/210302-bfr-corona-monitor-en.pdf

Regarding the measures ordered to contain the coronavirus, the current mood is very mixed. For example, 84 percent of the respondents support the cancellation of events, 92 percent think the distance regulations are appropriate, and 91 percent think the same about the mandatory use of masks. For months, these regulations have been quite consistently accepted by the population.

Other measures, however, have been losing support over the past few weeks. For example, approval for the closure of shops has dropped to 37 percent - at the beginning of January it was at 61 percent.

In the current survey, about half of the respondents approve of the closure of restaurants, and 60 percent approve of the closure of cultural institutions. Similar values were last seen in the surveys at the beginning of December. After that, approval had initially risen.

Proximity to other people is still assumed to be the primary source of infection. Currently, around two-thirds of respondents rate the probability of contracting the disease through proximity to others as high. By comparison, at the beginning of the pandemic about a year ago, this figure was at 81 percent.

Overall, it can be seen over time that the transmission of the coronavirus via objects such as door handles or toys is now considered less likely than a year ago. The perception of the possibility of an infection via pets, on the other hand, remains fairly constant. The values vary, with minor outliers, between 6 and 10 percent.