Lockdown lives
by Ben MarshallBritain’s village of one hundred
“From this evening I must give the British people a very simple instruction – you must stay at home” Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the public in his televised address to the UK on 23 March, adding that the coronavirus was “the biggest threat this country has faced for decades”.
The first national lockdown was as historic as it was awful and necessary. The set of restrictions imposed by Government were a forerunner to more localised lockdowns during the summer and autumn and a second period of lockdown in England in November.
As in previous years I’ve taken a look at what our country was like at this time if it just had 100 people. How many of our ‘village’ would hold certain attitudes, how many would behave in certain ways, what would they think and do?
During the unprecedented period of the first, UK-wide lockdown, Britain looked like this…
For every 100 people
Supported the introduction of the lockdown restrictions
Believed that the economy will have changed as a result of the pandemic in a year’s time
Said the announcement of a successful vaccine would make a positive difference to how optimistic they feel
Were very or fairly confident in the NHS’ ability to deal with coronavirus (it was 62 in mid-March)
Expected to see a shift in the way we work
Said they felt uncomfortable going to large public gatherings compared to how they felt before the pandemic
Thought that the Government acted too late in imposing lockdown measures (it increased from 57 just two weeks previously)
Supported tracking those diagnosed with coronavirus, and those that they have been in close contact with, in order to advise those individuals to self-isolate themselves
Thought that the impacts of coronavirus would be felt more by older people than younger people
Thought that the impacts of coronavirus would be felt more by the poor more than the rich
Said they were finding it harder to stay positive about the future compared with before the outbreak
Thought that it was important that climate change is prioritised in the economic recovery
Thought it would take a year or more for life to return to normal
Reported having to work much or a little harder compared to before the outbreak
Thought the country would be weaker for years to come because of coronavirus (it was 40 a month earlier)
Thought that spending time away from friends and family they were self-isolating with would make a positive difference in their outlook!
Reported being concerned about the risk coronavirus posed to their personal health (down from 36 in late March)
Believed the conspiracy theory that the virus was probably created in a laboratory
Were personally worried about mental illnesses (even at the start of lockdown), 11 were concerned about anxiety and 7 about depression
Drank more alcohol than they normally would
Lent money to a family member or friend because of coronavirus while 9 borrowed from a family member or friend
Thought that “too much fuss” was being made about the risk from the coronavirus
Said Government communications about how to protect yourself had been not very/not at all clear
Thought that someone was 10 times more likely to die from seasonal flu than coronavirus
Phoned or contacted a counselling or support service
Said they were following the rules (at the start of April), about half time, 1 less than half the time and 1 hardly any of the time.
Source
Ipsos MORI Research 2020 | See references for specifics
Base
See references for individual survey bases
Ben Marshall
Research Director
References
49: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/half-british-workers-finding-it-harder-do-their-job-during-covid-19 (fieldwork 20-23 March)
20: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/Covid-19-and-mental-wellbeing (fieldwork 26-30 March)
10: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/government-message-cutting-through-covid-19 (fieldwork 27-30 March)
89, 51, 25, 19, 14, 6, 6, 3: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/life-under-lockdown-coronavirus-uk (fieldwork 1-3 April)
65: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/majority-britons-support-government-using-mobile-data-surveillance-tackle-coronavirus-crisis (fieldwork 10-13 April)
58: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/two-thirds-britons-believe-climate-change-serious-coronavirus-and-majority-want-climate-prioritised (fieldwork 17-19 April)
16: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/britons-spend-less-and-prepare-save-more-coronavirus-outbreak-affects-jobs-and-businesses (fieldwork 17-20 April)
82, 67, 66, 64/61, 44, 28: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/britons-think-coronavirus-will-have-harder-impact-old-poor-believe-society-less-divided (fieldwork 24-27 April)
88, 83, 75, 58, 40: www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/large-majority-britons-predict-coronavirus-will-lead-changes-our-lives-work-economy-and-society (fieldwork 1-4 May)
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