TABLE 5.
Themes, subthemes, and examples of pandemic causal representation (N = 608).
| Themes | Subthemes | Examples |
| Consequences of human behavior | ||
| Poor public health behavior | “Lack of hygiene” “No social distancing” “Not washing hands enough” | |
| Unusual eating choices and behavior | “Consuming wildlife” “Consumption of exotic meat” “Poor food choices” | |
| Public fail to follow government protocols | “Citizen not following MCO rules” “Human disobedience” “Public did not follow official rules” | |
| Environment disaster caused by humans | “Humans looting Earth’s resources without limitations” “Human abuse of the environment” “Human encroachment into wildlife” | |
| Uncooperative community | “Public less cooperative” “Humans not cooperating with the government” | |
| High risk individuals not following protocols | “Sick individuals not seeking medical help” “Fear of discrimination in disease disclosure leading to concealment of travel history” “Unrestricted movements of people with symptoms” | |
| Unhealthy lifestyle | “Human lifestyle” “Living environment” “Unhealthy lifestyle” | |
| Reckless behavior | “Irresponsible behavior” “Lack of self-discipline” | |
| Fake news | “Spread of false news” “Falsified information” | |
| Consequences of human attitudes | ||
| Lack of awareness and education | “Awareness in society not enough” “Lack of awareness and education regarding the virus and its severity” “The knowledge about COVID-19” | |
| Human flawed characters | “Arrogance” “Selfishness of humans” “Stubbornness” | |
| Human ignorance | “Ignorant individuals who refused to be tested” “Human negligence” | |
| Underestimated the severity of virus | “People think it is not a concern” “People underestimating the virus” “Not serious in preventing the outbreak in the beginning” | |
| Public mindset | “Lack of social responsibility” “Irresponsible attitude” | |
| Human attitudes | “Too complacent” “Attitude towards the pandemic” | |
| Public emotional reaction | “Fear in society” “Lack of proper planning, causing panic” | |
| Socio-political reasons | ||
| Ineffective government | “Government fail to take action at the early stage” “Government’s effectiveness in decision and action” “Lack of border control at the right time between countries” | |
| Man-made disaster | “Bio weapon” “It is also a conspiracy by pharmaceutical and parties with vested interests to gain control” “Leak in scientific experiment” | |
| Poor medical resources | “Insufficient medical equipment for front line health personnel” “Unprepared-ness for pandemics (hospitals etc.)” “Lack of funding in preventive measures and healthcare in general” | |
| Poor preventive measures | “Ineffective precaution measures” “Did not have proper preventive measures” “Lack of immediate preventive measures” | |
| Caused by China | “China’s cover up” “Poor management and late information from China” “Wuhan wetmarket” | |
| Economical factor | “Over development” “Most of country more concern the economic factor rather the health and safety of the people” “Economic factors” | |
| International politics | “Egoism between politicians” “A well implemented containment policy and mitigation measures by solidarity of national and global level plays imperative role in handling this pandemic” “Lack of warning and reminder from WHO at the early stage of epidemic” | |
| Caused by United States | “It is a political ploy by US to sabotage China’s progress economically and politically” “Some people say this virus was originally from United States, brought to China” | |
| Social factors | ||
| Social gathering | “Mass gathering” “Freely gathering in virus risk areas” “Social activities” | |
| Human interaction | “Close contact between humans” “Exposure to many people” “Overcrowding” | |
| Human mobility | “Globalization of the world” “People going from places to places” “Increasing ease and extent of global travel in recent times that facilitates the worldwide spread of the outbreak” | |
| Human existence | “Human factor” “Human activities” “Human behavior” | |
| Space sharing | “Going to public places often” “Going to crowded places with no air circulation” “Crowded population in housing area” | |
| Religious factor | “Thinking religion will save them” “Religious gathering” | |
| Cultural factor | “Culture” “Different ways of dealing with disease (e.g., there’s a difference in way of approach in cultures (e.g., western and Asian)” | |
| Medical explanation | ||
| Poor immune system | “Low immune system” “Preexisting diseases” “Health conditions” | |
| Virus transmission | “Rapid spread of virus” “Highly contagious virus” “Present of virus load” | |
| Infections | “Contracted through contaminated air droplets” “Unexpectedly infected” “Transmission from human to human without symptoms” | |
| Bio-mutation | “Genetic mutation” “Virus mutation” “Newness of the virus” | |
| Contact with COVID-19 positive cases | “Close contact with infected people” “Interacting with people who is displaying symptoms” | |
| Physical contact | “Physical contact with humans” “Hand shaking” “Spread through touch” | |
| Hard to detect | “Existence of asymptomatic patients” “Difficulty in detecting carriers” “COVID-19’s low fatality rate and asymptomatic disease state, which translate into a sizeable number of asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2, consequently increasing the chance of spreading the virus” | |
| Physical symptoms | “Cough” “Breathing difficulties” | |
| High risk and severity rate | “High contagious rates” “High mortality rates” | |
| Microbiology transmission | “Bacteria (like black plague)” “Airborne bacteria transmission in a closed space” | |
| Ecological explanation | ||
| Environment problem | “Global warming” “Polluted environment” | |
| Natural process | “Natural occurrence” “What we contribute to the world it comes back to us” “Seasonal bound to happen” | |
| Animal contact | “Spread from animal” “Bat or any other animals” | |
| Population problem | “Overpopulation of humans” “Population density” | |
| Natural disaster | “Natural disasters” | |
| Religious-spiritual explanation | ||
| Karma/Sin | “Karma” “Sin of men” | |
| Will of God | “God’s will” “God wants all humans to return back to Him, love Him, worship Him” “Power of Allah” | |
| Punishment from God | “God’s punishment” “God’s judgment and wrath” “God’s power in reprimanding His slave” | |
| Fatalism | “End of the world, already predicted” “Destiny” | |
| Testing from God | “Lesson to learn from God” | |
| Personal faith | “Ignoring God” “Poor spirituality” |