TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Mask wearing up, but not everyone handwashing
More Indonesians are now wearing face masks in public, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has revealed, although it appears more effort is needed to raise public awareness about the importance of following other health protocols.
Change Size
More Indonesians are now wearing face masks in public, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) has revealed, although it appears more effort is needed to raise public awareness about the importance of following other health protocols.
An online survey conducted by the BPS from Sept. 7 to 14, involving 90,967 respondents across the archipelago, revealed that the rate of people's adherence to mask-wearing requirements is higher than other health protocols, such as hand washing and physical distancing.
According to the survey results, around 92 percent of respondents wear face masks in public, while 75.38 percent and 73.54 percent regularly wash their hands and maintain a safe physical distance, respectively.
The rate of public compliance with the mask-wearing requirements has increased by 8 percent since April, BPS head Suhariyanto said, while noting that compliance with the hand-washing and physical-distancing policies had somewhat declined.
“Ideally, these three parameters – mask wearing, hand washing and physical distancing – should be parallel,” he said during a press conference livestreamed on the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s (BNPB) official YouTube channel on Monday.
“After all, what good does wearing a mask do without regularly washing our hands and keeping a safe physical distance?”
Despite the generally optimistic outlook, a more robust campaign encouraging people to look after their own personal hygiene and avoid crowds would be crucial to ensure public health and safety, he said.
Suhariyanto went on to explain that a sizable proportion of respondents – 17 percent – still believed that it was impossible for them to contract the coronavirus disease.
Respondents aged between 17 and 30 tend to be more skeptical of their susceptibility to the virus than those aged over 60, he added.
“Threat perception is also generally higher among respondents with higher education,” he said, adding that a “special touch” was required to reach out to the less-privileged demographic to raise awareness of the various health risks amid the current crisis.
BNPB head Doni Monardo, who also helms the national COVID-19 task force, said during the same event that he expected the latest BPS survey to inform future decision-making processes in order to ensure maximum impact.
“Members of the public are at the forefront [of COVID-19 mitigation],” Doni said.
“Public compliance with health protocols is incomparable to the major sacrifices made by our health workers.”
Indonesia has seen a continuously rising number of cases since March. The country logged record daily highs, all above 4,400 new cases, for three consecutive days last week.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Indonesia had recorded 282,724 coronavirus infections with 10,601 deaths linked to the disease, making it the country with the second-highest number of recorded COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia – just below the Philippines – and the highest in fatalities among its ASEAN peers.
