5?? Covid: 5 years on
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Hi folks,
It’s been five years since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, and much of the world went into lockdown. In this special edition, we’re looking back at how life has changed - what’s shifted, what’s stayed the same, and some things you might have forgotten from the pandemic's early days.
Scroll down to read about our changing attitudes to sick days, the country where people never went back to cinemas, and the surprising popularity of emails from CEOs.
That was then...
? If you go by the WHO timeline, then the pandemic was a public health emergency for three years and four months. But in March 2020, only 12% of people felt the pandemic would last longer than a year (though most revised their estimates upwards later on).
?? One of the really interesting things about lockdowns is that they weren’t massively popular until they were implemented. In a survey we ran between March 16-20 2020, there was a huge gap in demand for lockdowns between countries that had just brought them in (as high as 8 in 10 for France and Spain) and those that hadn’t yet (3 in 10 for South Africa and the UK). It’s a reminder that policy often guides public opinion, not the other way around.??
?? Likewise, it seems odd in hindsight that so many businesses sent emails to us outlining their plans and urging us to stay safe. And perhaps not all of them were essential. But there was massive demand for this at the time - 8 in 10 approved of brands reaching out to customers about their pandemic responses.
Most of the above data is from special studies into Covid-19 that GWI conducted throughout 2020 - further resources can be found here.
...and this is now
?? Many expected a persistent worry about infectious diseases, with widespread mask-wearing and hand sanitizing, to continue forever - but we probably underestimated how quickly public concerns can change. Right now, concern about infectious diseases (29%) has almost been overtaken by concern about AI (26%). GWI USA
?? This translates to how people think about the future as well. Fewer consumers are concerned about another pandemic (33%) as they are about the data security implications of using AI tools (51%) or cybersecurity (46%).? GWI Zeitgeist
?? That said, one of the the big impacts people feel five years on is increased likelihood of staying home if sick, or taking a sick day off work - especially in the US. The biggest permanent change of all, though, is taking extra precautions around health in general (38%). GWI Zeitgeist
Chart of the week
Ever since non-essential businesses closed and people stayed at home, one big question has kept coming back: when will things get “back to normal”?
Some things have. Restaurants, public transportation, and consumer confidence have all (just about) returned to 2019 levels within a 5 year timeframe. Other things seem to be taking much longer to rebound - assuming they ever will.?
Not even Taylor Swift’s record-breaking world tour has been able to drag back more concertgoers, while foreign holidays and cinema visits also remain stubbornly low. And for all the recent headlines about return to office mandates, the number who regularly work in an office is still well below where it was.?
More from GWI
This is an abridged version of our weekly newsletter, “On the dot.” To get the full edition in all its glory,?subscribe to the real deal