With the current COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the planet, all our worlds are turned upside down as we are forced to live in different circumstances. Many of us will be under some degree of lock down – to enforce social distancing, others of us may be self-isolating, worried about having the virus or perhaps suffering its effects.
Many surveys have been published to describe the impact of the pandemic. Our own Global Trends Report Special Edition: COVID-19 series has covered many of these practical issues. What we have often found is that there is a difference between countries dependent on where they are on the pandemic curve. Countries like Spain and Italy, currently at the center of the epidemic, have lots to teach us about how to cope and what it will be like when entering that phase. Similarly, China, which looks to be emerging from crisis, has lessons for us all.
For example, in China just over half of respondents told us they were very or extremely worried about being around strangers. The message about social distance and the need for reduced travel had clearly resonated. By contrast only a third of British, American or German respondents said the same, and in the Netherlands, it was a mere quarter. That some societies are taking it less seriously than others are is evident by their reaction to the statement “people are over-reacting to the risks.” In Australia this was endorsed by over half the population at 56%. In the USA, Germany and Singapore the numbers were not much lower. In countries that have suffered more, the numbers were completely different – 27% in Italy, 33% in China. Countries that told us in other questions that they are well-informed on the risks and what to look out for and what to do, such as Ireland for example, were similarly low on this measure.
We also took the opportunity to ask some more general questions about the impact this may have on society. Over half (58%) agreed that we will see more pandemics like this in the future. Very possibly the driving force behind this belief is our lifestyle, not any particular medical knowledge. Our ability to simply jump on a plane and be anywhere in the world within a matter of hours makes pandemics much more possible. And it doesn’t have to be all of us who can do this; it only takes a few to spread a virus in this way. And so, we asked if people believed that there might be an upside, that this pandemic might be good for us, shake us up a little, the way we do things. This notion was agreed with by two-thirds of Chinese and similar numbers of Indians, Japanese and Singaporeans. Australia was the opposite, most people disagreed or were neutral about it. In Europe, France was noticeably the country most likely to agree, 64% saying so either slightly or strongly. Ireland was just a few percentage points behind at 58%. For the UK and the Netherlands agreement was a minority position, held by 46% and 35% respectively. In North America, the USA and Canada, the view is similar, just under a half thinking the pandemic may actually be good for us in the longer run. This opinion was held by people of all ages, young and old.
What is clear is that there is a general agreement that this is not the time to be all about “me” and that the common good must come first. Seven out of ten, across the globe, agreed either strongly or slightly with this. Higher than average levels of agreement were seen in Italy, Spain, France and Ireland. The UK, the USA, Germany and Australia were all below the average. That said, even in these countries, a majority (around two thirds) agreed with this view.
What is utterly unknown is how long the crisis will last and when life will return to normal, and this is covered in our survey, too. About one in ten Chinese people believe it will end within a month and this view is shared by 9% of Spaniards. Interestingly only half as many Italians as this think the same way. In most of Europe it is half of that. More realistic perhaps are the slight majority overall who expect us to still be dealing with this in three months’ time and beyond that. Using this as our measure we see the UK, Australia and Japan as the most pessimistic countries, seven out of ten thinking it will take that long. China and Spain both have around 30% who feel this way.
On that final question we also allowed people to say that life would never be normal again, and this was chosen by 3% of the sample, particularly the over-45s (4%) rather than those aged 16-34 (2%). I think we all hope that this will not be our “new normal,” but it seems unlikely that the world will ever be the same again.
