Coronavirus May 2020 - Observations, information, discussion

There was a survey of 22,921 people from 4/16 to 4/26 that had results published recently at https://www.kateto.net/COVID19%20CONSORTIUM%20REPORT%20April%202020.pdf

Some of the results:

There is little consensus about “when should the country reopen the economy and resume business activity?”:

7% immediately
11% in the next two weeks
18% after two to four weeks
21% after four to six weeks
17% after six to eight weeks
26% after more than eight weeks

Note: it is now between one and two-and-a-half weeks since the survey time frame, although people who gave an answer one to two-and-a-half weeks ago may have a different answer (adjusted for the one to two-and-a-half weeks) now. But if you just shift the times by two weeks, you get the following times from now based on their answers from between one and two-and-a-half weeks ago:

18% immediately
18% in the next two weeks
21% after two to four weeks
17% after four to six weeks
26% after more than six weeks

The following questions about concern had answers of “not at all” / “not very” / “somewhat” / “very” concerned (percentages):

11 / 20 / 35 / 32 Getting coronavirus yourself (Hispanic, African American, Asian more concerned; 18-24 somewhat less concerned; 65+ more likely to be “somewhat” concerned but less likely to be “very” concerned than 25-44 and 45-64)

6 / 12 / 32 / 47 Family members getting coronavirus (similar pattern by race / ethnicity as above; being “very” concerned was higher for younger age groups)

13 / 14 / 18 / 24 Losing your job due to the virus outbreak or the measures against it (31% “not applicable to me”; non-white people more concerned; younger more concerned; less education more concerned; lower income more concerned (out of those who did not say “not applicable to me”))

12 / 16 / 30 / 35 Financial hardships due to the virus outbreak or the measures against it (similar patterns as previous)

Question “In the last 24 hours, have many people who are not part of your household did you meet face-to-face?”

44% - none, 15% - 1, 14% - 2, 8 - 3, 13% - 4-9, 7% over 9

Question “In the last 24 hours, have you been in a room (or another enclosed space) with people who were not members of your household?”

73% - no, 14% - 1-2 others, 6% - 3-4 others, 3% - 5-6 others, 1% - 7-8 others, 1% - 9-10 others, 1% - 11-50 others, 0% - 51-100 others, 0% - over 100 others

The following questions about personally following health recommendations had answers of “not at all” / “not very” / “somewhat” / “very” closely (percentages):

2 / 4 / 25 / 69 Avoiding contact with other people

2 / 3 / 20 / 75 Avoiding public or crowded places

1 / 3 / 16 / 80 Frequently washing hands

3 / 9 / 27 / 61 Disinfecting often-touched surface

14 / 11 / 20 / 55 Wearing a face mask when outside of your home

The following questions about measures which governments could take in the next 30 days had answers of “strongly disapprove” / “somewhat disapprove” / “somewhat approve” / “strongly approve” (percentages):

2 / 4 / 20 / 74 Asking people to stay at home and avoid gathering in groups

5 / 12 / 31 / 52 Requiring most businesses other than grocery stores and pharmacies to close

3 / 5 / 18 / 74 Cancelling major sports and entertainment events

3 / 5 / 20 / 71 Closing K-12 schools

30 / 22 / 25 / 23 Tracking people’s cell phone location to find out who was in contact with a sick person

2 / 4 / 20 / 74 Restricting international travel to the U.S.

5 / 10 / 31 / 55 Restricting travel within the U.S.

For all of the approve / disapprove questions above, the largest demographic difference appears to be political party affiliation, but even the least in favor party members still heavily approved the ones that had heavy overall approval (i.e. other than the cell phone tracking one).

Questions “how would you say […] are reacting?” with answers “not taking the outbreak seriously enough” / “reacting about right” / “overreacting to the outbreak”

48 / 34 / 16 ordinary people across the country

34 / 53 / 12 ordinary people in your community

8 / 42 / 6 people at your place of employment