Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 10 September 2021

This wave, over the period of 25 August to 5 September 2021, based on adults in Great Britain:

• A high proportion of adults still felt that measures to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) were either very important or important; the measures included wearing a face covering (87% this wave, 88% last wave between the period 18 and 22 August) and socially distancing from others not in their household (87% this wave, 86% last wave).

• The proportion of adults reporting to wear face coverings at some point in the last seven days when outside their home (89%) was similar to last wave (90%), as was the proportion of adults who always or often maintain social distancing (46% this wave, 45% last wave).

• The proportion of adults that reported self-isolating in the last seven days remained relatively stable (3% this wave, 4% last wave).

• The main reasons adults self-isolated in the last seven days were because of testing positive for COVID-19 (31%), having coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms (21%) and have been in contact with someone who have tested positive for COVID-19 (20%).

• Personal well-being measures remained stable compared with the last wave, with life satisfaction (7.1), feeling that the things done in life are worthwhile (7.3), happiness (7.1) all remaining unchanged from the previous wave, apart from anxiety (3.8) which has increased slightly.

With many children returning to school in September, this week we asked whether adults with dependent children had any worries:

• Around 1 in 2 (48%) adults with dependent children said they were very or somewhat worried about the children or young people in their household going back to school or college after the summer holidays; around 1 in 4 (23%) were somewhat unworried or not worried at all.

• The main reasons among those who reported that they were worried about them catching coronavirus (COVID-19) (58%), worried about them spreading the coronavirus (COVID-19) (31%) and worried about the impact on their mental health and well-being because of the changes in schools and colleges (30%).

For the first time we asked all adults to tell us whether they have been asked for COVID-19 vaccination or negative test proof to enter certain venues. We found that:

• Around 1 in 10 (11%) of all adults were asked for vaccination or test proof.

• Among those aged 16 to 29 years, the most common reported requirement for proof was to access a festival (38%).

• For those aged 30 to 49 years, the most common reported requirement for proof was to access a sporting event (33%).

• For those aged 50 to 69 years, 48% of those who had been asked for proof reported “other”; text responses indicated that visiting care homes, hospitals and work were the most common response, which was also the case for 65% of those aged 70 years and over who had been asked for proof.

This release contains data and indicators from a module being undertaken through the Office for National Statistics' (ONS') Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) to understand the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on British society.

Breakdowns by age, sex, region and country, including confidence intervals for the estimates, are contained in the Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain dataset.

Where changes in results from previous weeks are presented in this bulletin, associated confidence intervals should be used to assess the statistical significance of the differences.

Sampling and weighting

From the week of 4 to 8 August 2021 onwards, the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) sample size was reduced to around 5,000 households each week to help ensure the survey remains sustainable. This wave, we sampled 5,000 households. These were randomly selected from those that had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS) or OPN. The responding sample contained 3,387 individuals, representing a 68% response rate.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population (based on August 2021 population estimates). Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Quality and Methodology Information.

Upcoming changes

Since March 2020, the ONS has delivered a weekly OPN to help provide rapid evidence around the social impacts of coronavirus on adults in Great Britain. As we have moved to a period where restrictions have been lifted across the Great Britain, the OPN has moved to a fortnightly data collection. This also brings us into line with data collection on the Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS).

The next bulletin will be published on 24 September 2021.