Public Opinions and Conspiracy Thinking towards the COVID-19 Outbreak in Iraqi Kurdistan
Abstract Objectives: The public’s perceptions towards the COVID-19 crisis and the government’s attempts to handle the crisis are critically noteworthy. The public opinions towards the COVID-19 crisis were explored in this study. Methods: In this report, 1,102 participants were included from two popular social media platforms from the Duhok Governorate in Iraqi Kurdistan between June 2 and 22, 2020 through an online technique. Results: The study revealed that 14.0% of the participants believed that there is no COVID-19 in this region, and 20.1% had no concerns about the disease spread. This study revealed that 27.4% had conspiracy thinking about the COVID-19 outbreak; including the outbreak is a plot against/of the Kurdistan Region Government; 16.4% and 19.3%, respectively. The outbreak caused considerable changes in participants’ lives (85.8%). The participants who had conspiracy thinking were younger (27.0 vs. 30.0; P=0.001) and had a higher level of education (37.50% high school and under, 26.0% college and above, 16.2% illiterate: P<0.001). Besides, they had a private job (43.7%), and were unemployed (23.9%; P<0.001), and had negative views on the TV information (38.9% vs. 17.5%; P<0.001). Conclusions: A considerable percentage of the public exhibits conspiracy thinking towards the COVID-19 crisis in Iraqi Kurdistan.