Social Impact of COVID-19 Survey June 2020: A Snapshot of Experiences and Expectations in a Pandemic

The second round of the Social Impact of COVID-19 survey was undertaken to measure the impact COVID-19 has had on Irish society in June 2020.  This household survey was carried out between Wednesday 10 June and Wednesday 17 June and was based on a sample of 5,566 persons aged 18 years and over.  The survey utilised an online electronic questionnaire and telephone interviewing to produce a final achieved sample size of 1,693 individuals.

This publication covers topics including health, personal concerns, spending, working life and compliance with official COVID-19 advice.  Analysis is provided across key personal and household demographic characteristics, reflecting how COVID-19 has impacted different people in different ways.  Where survey questions are common to both the first (April) and second (June) rounds of this survey, comparative analysis is provided.

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

Compliance

• The proportion of respondents rating their personal compliance with current government advice and guidelines as High, was 59.9% in June, down from 80.6% in April 2020.
• Women were more likely than men to report High compliance with current government advice and guidelines, 68.4% and 51.2% respectively.

Concerns

• Just under a half (47.7%) of respondents reported being Very or Extremely concerned with the compliance of others in June 2020.
• More women (25.4%) than men (17.0%) reported being Very or Extremely concerned about their own health in June 2020.
• More than half (51.3%) of respondents reported being Very or Extremely concerned about somebody else’s health, a decrease on the April figure of 63.4%.

Health

• Two in five (40.9%) of respondents reported that their weight has Increased since the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions.
• Women were more likely than men to report an Increase in weight, 46.8% and 34.8% respectively.
• A quarter (24.8%) of respondents with a Healthy BMI reported an Increase in weight, compared to 44.9% for respondents classified as Overweight, and 55.5% for those classified as Obese.
• Almost half (49.0%) of newly labour inactive respondents (those in employment before the onset of the COVID-19 crisis and currently not working) reported an Increase in weight.  This compares with 37.6% of respondents that are currently working.

Working Life

• One fifth (19.6%) of employee respondents currently working from home said they Do not have a suitable workspace with adequate equipment.
• Almost one in five (18.5%) respondents reported being Very or Extremely concerned about their employer’s ability to provide a safe work environment in the context of COVID-19.

Changes in Income and Expenditure

• Four in five (79.8%) respondents reported they experienced reduced expenditure due to COVID-19 restrictions.
• Seven in ten (70.3%) of respondents reported No change in their net income since the introduction of COVID-19 restrictions.
• Of respondents that reported reduced expenditure and/or an increase in income, just over half (51.1%) said that they have/will put additional money into Savings, 46.9% said that they spent/will spend additional money on Home improvements and furnishings, 36.3% on Garden improvements and furnishings and 26.3% on Future holidays.

Methodological Note

The results presented in this publication have been weighted to best reflect the population.  Due to time and resource constraints, there were limitations on the sample size and selection methodology.  Consequently, caution must be exercised when making inferences to the entire population from these results.  Nonetheless, this data provides a valuable insight into the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of many people in Ireland.  For further details on the survey methodology, see Background Notes.

A second publication focusing on survey questions related to comfort levels around partaking in various activities with the easing of COVID-19 restrictions is to be published on Thursday 25  June.