How much trust do you have in the institutions responsible for managing the Covid-19 Pandemic? 45.0 39.3 40.0 35.0 30.0 25.0 23.3 22.2 20.0 14.7 15.0 10.0 5.0 0.0 A lot Somewhat A little Not at all 0.5 Don’t know Graph 10: Perception of trust in the institutions responsible for managing the Covid-19 pandemic. The portrayal of the pandemic in the media may have played a great role in this split. On the one hand, media coverage of health specialists was high, turning some of the doctors and health specialists into media‘superstars’ and there was a narrative espousing their professionalism in managing the pandemic. On the other hand, infection rates and reported hospitalizations and deaths remained highly concerning so the salience in the professionalism of healthcare institutions did not appear to have been able to balance out the negative perceptions caused by this reporting. Furthermore, the pandemic also brought attention to difficult conditions in hospitals which gained salience particularly with the case of whistle-blower Dr. Ilir Allkja, 27F 28 whose battle received major media attention which in turn had an impact on citizens’ perceptions of the overall management of the pandemic. In terms of personal security, theft, conflicts over property, robbery, homicide, and organized crime are perceived as the main threats(see graph 11). Insecurity among women is also higher. They constitute the largest percentage of respondents who identify theft, robbery, and domestic violence as the main threat to their security. 28F 29 Compared to the previous barometer, organized crime(4.66 to 10.23%) and domestic violence(1.61 to 3.38%) more than doubled in terms of the percentage of results from the previous year. 29F 30 28 Ben Andoni,“Chronicle of a dismissal foretold, or how much the truth costs in Albania”, Southeast Europe Coalition on Whistleblower Protection , May 20, 2021. Accessible at: https://see-whistleblowing.org/chronicle-of-a-dismissal-foretold-or-how-much-the-truth-costs­in-albania/ 29 Arjan Dyrmishi,“Albanian Security Barometer National Survey 2020”, 29. 30 Ibid., 27. 22