Social Impact of COVID-19 Survey November 2020 Well-being and Lifestyle under Level 5 Restrictions

The fourth round of the Social Impact of COVID-19 Survey was undertaken to measure the impact COVID-19 has had on Irish society in November 2020. This survey was carried out between Thursday 12 November and Wednesday 18 November and was based on a sample of 5,105 persons aged 18 years and over. The survey utilised an online electronic questionnaire to produce a final achieved sample size of 1,585 individuals.

The topics covered in this publication include well-being, changes in consumption, compliance with official COVID-19 advice and positive impacts on life since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. Analysis is provided across key personal and household demographic characteristics, reflecting how COVID-19 has impacted different people in different ways.

The main results of the fourth round of the Social Impact of COVID-19 survey are presented below.

Appropriateness of Level 5 response to managing COVID-19 related risk 

• Over 71% of respondents reported that the Level 5 response was Appropriate, 18.3% felt it was Too extreme with 10.2% believed it was Not sufficient. Analysis by age shows that the likelihood of a respondent feeling that the Level 5 response was Appropriate increased with age, with 63.2% of respondents aged 18-34 agreeing that the Level 5 response was Appropriate rising to 88.2% for those aged 70 years and over.
• Conversely, the likelihood of a respondent feeling that the Level 5 was Too extreme decreased with age, falling from 23.1% for those aged 18-34 to 5.2% for those aged 70 years and over.

Well-being

• In November 2020, more than one in three (35.6%) of respondents rated their overall life satisfaction as Low.  This compares with 30.5% in April 2020 and 8.8% in 2018.
• The likelihood of respondents reporting that they were very nervous All or Most of the time in the four-week period prior to interview was higher in November (11.4%) than in April 2020 (7.7%).
• In November 2020, respondents aged 18-34 were most likely to report being very nervous All or Most of the time (19.3%), while those aged 55-69 were least likely (5.0%).
• The percentage of respondents that felt downhearted or depressed All or Most of the time in the four-week period prior to interview doubled between April and November 2020, from 5.5% to 11.5%.
• Female respondents were twice as likely to report that they felt downhearted or depressed All or Most of the time than male respondents (15.5% versus 7.3%).
• Analysis by age shows that in November, respondents aged 18 to 34 were most likely to report being downhearted or depressed All or Most of the time (18.6% increasing from 11.1% in April 2020). Those aged 55-69 and 70 years and over were least likely to report being downhearted and depressed All or Most of the time (6.0 and 6.1% respectively).
• The percentage of respondents that felt lonely All or Most of the time in the four-week period prior to interview doubled between April and November 2020, from 6.8% to 13.7%.
• More than 17% of female respondents felt lonely All or Most of the time compared with 9.9% of male respondents.
• Younger respondents, i.e. those aged 18-34, were most likely to feel lonely All or Most of the time with more than one in four (25.6%) feeling this way. This is an increase of 15.5 percentage points since April (10.1%). Those aged 70 and over were least like to feel lonely All or Most of the time (4.7%), remaining relatively unchanged since April (4.6%).
• Respondents living in rented accommodation were twice as likely to report feeling lonely All or Most of the time in November than those in owner-occupied dwellings (22.3% vs 11.0%).

Aspects of life that has changed for the better since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis

• Nearly 45% of respondents reported that something in their lives has changed for the better since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis with over one in two (51.0%) women and almost four in ten (38.4%) men reporting this.
• As age increased, the percentage reporting a positive change decreased, declining from 58.3% for those aged 18-34 to 15.9% for those aged 70 years and over.
• Almost three in ten (28.7%) reported More quality time with the people I live with as an aspect of their lives that has changed for the better.
• Nearly 19% of respondents said their finances have improved and 14.5% have More free time for hobbies.
• Similar percentages of workers reported a Better work-life balance and Less time commuting or travelling for work as aspects of their lives that have improved since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis (18.8% and 19.4%) respectively.
• Exactly 23% of male workers and 15% of female workers felt Less time commuting or travelling for work was an improvement in their lives. Similar figures were reported for Better work-life balance (22.6% and 16.6% respectively).
• Female respondents were more likely to report that More quality time with the people I live with (33.2%) and being More in touch with family, friends and neighbours (14.6%) as aspects of their lives that have changed for the better. The comparable male rates are 23.9% and 11.5% respectively.

Changes in consumption.

• The proportion of respondents reporting that their alcohol consumption is higher than before the COVID-19 crisis remained relatively unchanged between April and November (22.2% and 21.1% respectively).
• More than one in four (26.8%) of November respondents reported that they have Decreased alcohol consumption since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, compared with approximately one in six (17.2%) of respondents in April.
• When comparing alcohol consumption to pre-COVID levels, almost one in four (24.7%) of female respondents to the November survey reported that their alcohol consumption has Decreased, compared with just 8.6% of female respondents to the April survey.
• In November, a greater proportion of respondents that consume tobacco products reported that their tobacco consumption is lower than pre-COVID-19 levels, when compared to the April rate (17.4% versus 8.6%). There was a small decrease in the percentage of respondents that said their consumption has Increased since pre-COVID-19 levels, 30.5% in April to 27.4% in November.
• Overall the percentage of respondents reporting an increase in the consumption of junk food and sweets since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis has fallen from 45.4% in April to 41.3% in November.

Compliance and other results

• In November 2020, when the country was living under Level 5 restrictions, almost two-thirds (65.2%) rated their compliance with current government advice and guidelines as High, compared with four in five (80.6%) in April, approximately a month after initial COVID-19 restrictions were first implemented.
• In November 68.2% of female respondents rated their compliance as High compared with 62.2% of male respondents.
• Overall, respondents believed they were less likely to contract COVID-19 in November than in April.  In November 84.0% of respondents believed they had a Low chance of getting infected with COVID-19 and 16.0% believed that they had a ‘Medium’ or ‘High’ chance. The comparable rates in April were 76.3% and 23.7%.
• Just under 7% of respondents believed that within the next six months their lives will return to something like it was pre-COVID, nearly a third (32.5%) believe that it will be Between six and twelve months, 45.3% believe that it will be Between 1 and 2 years and 11.2% believe that it will be 2 years or more before this happens. Just over 4% believe that their lives will Never return to normal.
• Of those working from home, 27.3% said they were finding it More difficult, 37.0% said it was getting Easier while 35.6% said there was No difference as time passes.
• In November one in six (16.4%) respondents working from home because of restrictions reported that they would prefer to Return to place of work compared to over one in three (38.8%) of respondents working from home due to restrictions in April.
• Less than a one in four (22.6%) of respondents said they would prefer to Remain working from home exclusively, up from 6.8% in April. More than 61% preferred a Mixture of both in November, an increase on the April rate of 54.4%.
• More than two in five (41.6%) respondents living in rural areas would prefer to Remain working from home in future, more than double the rate for respondents living in urban areas (17.8%).

Personal concerns related to COVID-19

• In November 2020, 27.8% of respondents reported being Very or Extremely concerned about their own health. This is higher than the rates reported in April (25.8%).
• More than half (56.2%) of respondents reported being Very or Extremely concerned about somebody else’s health in November 2020. This is lower than the April figure of 63.4%.
• In November two in five (40.3%) respondents reported that they were Very or Extremely concerned about maintaining social ties, an increase on April’s figure when less than a third (32.4%) of respondents felt this way
• In November three in five (60.0%) respondents said they were Very or Extremely concerned about other people’s ability to comply with government advice and guidelines compared with 47.7% in June.