Readers of Reach plc titles across the UK still believe that the country was right to go into lockdown – but opinions vary depending on where you live and which of our titles you read.
The Reach lockdown survey was taken by over 15,000 UK readers of titles owned by BusinessLive’s parent company. It shows how people feel about different aspects of the government’s response to the pandemic as we reach the five-year anniversary of the county going into lockdown.
The survey found that just under two thirds (61%) of respondents felt that the country was right to have gone into lockdown five years ago, with 39% saying it was the wrong decision.
Only one in seven (14%) people felt that lockdown happened at the right time, however.
Just under half (49%) felt that lockdown should have happened sooner.
Pro-lockdown sentiment is strongest in England (63% in favour) and Wales (62% in favour). But readers in Scotland were less enthusiastic, with 51% of respondents saying the country shouldn’t have gone into lockdown. Opinions in Northern Ireland were divided 50-50.
Support for lockdown also varies greatly between the company’s titles. More than half (51%) of Daily Express readers said that the country shouldn’t have gone into lockdown, as did 48% of Daily Record readers. Mirror readers, meanwhile, were overwhelmingly in favour of lockdown, with 71% saying it was a good idea.
At BusinessLive we asked readers about how their work changed during lockdown. 54% of respondents said they did not move to remote or home working during lockdown, with 23% saying they went to full home working and another 15% saying they went partly remote. Five years on the pattern is similar, with more than half (54%) saying they never worked from home. Some 23% say they work remotely but sometimes go to their workplace, with 15% saying they work entirely remotely.
Should schools have been kept open?The country is more divided on whether or not schools should have been kept open during lockdown.
Just over half (53%) of respondents across the UK said that the government was right to close schools.
That sentiment is strongest in Wales (55%) and England (54%).
People in Scotland and Northern Ireland, however, felt that closing schools was the wrong call. Some 55% of respondents in Scotland and 54% in Northern Ireland said that schools should have stayed open.
How did the devolved governments handle the crisis?Readers in Scotland have given a damning verdict on their government’s response to the pandemic.
Half of all respondents there said that it was a disaster. Just under a third (30%) said that it could have been better, with only one in five (20%) saying that the government there did very well.
Response to the Welsh government was slightly more favourable, with 23% of readers in Wales saying that they did very well. Over a third (35%) said it could have been better though, and 42% said that it was a disaster.
Only 16% of readers in Northern Ireland said that the Stormont government did very well. Some 44% said it could have been better, and 39% said it was a disaster.
How did you feel during lockdown?People taking the survey had the option to select up to three emotions they felt during lockdown.
The most commonly selected were isolated (38% of respondents) and anxious (37%).
Just under a third (29%) said that they felt angry.
Around a quarter of respondents (26%) said that they felt safe, a fifth (21%) were reassured, and 19% said they felt vulnerable.
Lockdown seemed to suit around one in every eight people though, with 12% saying that they felt content.
Will it ever happen again?The country seems united in the belief that we won’t be going into lockdown again.
Well over half (58%) said that they don’t think there will be another lockdown.
That sentiment is particularly strong in Scotland (67% saying ‘no) and Northern Ireland (61%).
Despite this, readers are concerned that we may experience another pandemic.
Just under half (45%) said that they were worried about another pandemic, compared to 44% who said that they weren’t.
MasksMore than one in every four people surveyed say that they still wear a mask.
A quarter said that they sometimes wear one, with another 2% saying that they wear one whenever they’re not at home.
Has the NHS recovered from Covid?People overwhelmingly feel that the NHS has not recovered from the pandemic.
Just over three quarters (76%) said that it hasn’t, with just 8% believing that it has.
People in Scotland felt even more strongly about this, with 82% of respondents saying that the NHS was still struggling.
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