Why We Still Far from the End of Covid-19: A Preliminary Finding on Indonesian Experience in Facing the Pandemic

This study is aiming at (1) revealing why Indonesia has not yet to show signs of decreasing the curve for Covid-19; (2) disclosing how information related to Covid-19 is widely accepted by the public and who has the most role in this effort; (3) how science-based information relations can be used as material for policy-making for Covid-19 counter-measures, as well as how to effectively refer to the Evidence-Based Policy and the existing challenges. The method used in the study is mixed-method by distributing questionnaires to 2,772 respondents in three cities with the red zone status, i.e. Depok City, Medan City, and Surakarta City. The findings for this first phase obtained were processed using secondary sources based on academic literature. The findings show that (1) there are still many respondents who think Covid-19 is a hoax and conspiracy; (2) the participation of academic institutions and independent research institutions in sharing valid information regarding Covid-19 is still very low; (3) the government has not massively involved academic institutions to respond Covid-19. These three aspects are the reasons why Covid-19 is still a threat, especially for Indonesian citizens. But we have an important finding that effective aid from government combine with the independent and academic institution participations, will help to minimize the activity in public space. It is also mean that we can handle the spread of Covid-19.