Coronavirus and the social impacts on Great Britain: 24 July 2020

• This week, over 7 in 10 adults (71%) who have left their homes have worn a face covering to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) – an increase from last week (61%).

• More than 3 in 10 adults (33%) said they would feel comfortable or very comfortable eating indoors at a restaurant this week, an increase from 27% last week.

• Over half of adults (52%) said they would feel comfortable or very comfortable to eat at an outdoor restaurant this week, an increase from 45% last week.

• More than 7 in 10 adults (71%) met up with other people to socialise this week – an increase from 67% last week.

• Over half of working adults (53%) reported they had travelled to work in the past seven days, up from 44% one month ago and 36% two months ago.

• Almost 9 in 10 adults with children of school age (89%) reported that it was either very or fairly likely that those children would return to school or college when the new term begins.

• Over 6 in 10 adults with children who will be of school age next term (62%) reported that they are very or somewhat worried about the children or young people in their household returning to school or college.

• Before the coronavirus pandemic, 63% of respondents with a physical or mental health condition or illness had been receiving medical care, and of these, 31% reported that their treatment had started or continued as normal since the outbreak of the pandemic, 30% had received some treatment but this had either been reduced, or they had not received treatment for all health conditions, and treatments had been cancelled for 21%.

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

The statistics in this publication are based on a survey of 2,500 adults aged 16 years and over in Great Britain conducted between 15 and 19 July 2020 (inclusive). Results this week are based on 1,606 responding adults (64% response rate).

It contains breakdowns of results by sex and for identified “at-risk” groups that have been advised to take additional precautions. This includes those aged 70 years and over and those with certain underlying health conditions. The full list of conditions is included in the Glossary.

This bulletin presents a summary of results, with further data including confidence intervals for the estimates contained in the associated datasets. 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 change.

Throughout this bulletin, "this week" refers to the period 15 to 19 July 2020 and "last week" refers to the period 8 to 12 July 2020."

Of adults in Great Britain, over 9 in 10 (93%) said they had left their home for any reason in the past seven days, the same proportion as last week.

This week, we asked people if they were engaging in activities that are now allowed in parts of Great Britain as lockdown restrictions continue to lift. Of those adults who had left their home, 15% had left home to eat or drink at a restaurant, café, bar or pub this week and 14% had visited a barber or hair salon. These were both increases from last week when respectively 10% and 9% of those who had left their homes did so for these reasons.

Socialising

More than 7 in 10 adults (71%) met up with other people to socialise this week – an increase from 67% last week. Of these, over 4 in 10 (44%) had met with one or two people, almost 3 in 10 (28%) had met up with three or four people and the same proportion had met with more than five people (28%).

When meeting up with other people, over half of adults (57%) always maintained social distancing, with less than 1 in 10 (7%) saying they rarely or never maintained social distancing. For those over 70 years old, almost three-quarters (73%) always maintained social distancing when meeting up with other people.

As lockdown restrictions are gradually lifted, respondents were asked how comfortable they would feel to eat at a restaurant either indoors or outdoors. More than 3 in 10 adults (33%) said they would feel comfortable or very comfortable to eat indoors at a restaurant, compared with 27% last week.

Over half of adults (52%) said they would feel comfortable or very comfortable to eat at an outdoor restaurant, while 45% of adults felt this way last week.

Face coverings

In the past seven days, more than 7 in 10 adults (71%) who have left their homes have worn a face covering to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) – an increase from last week (61%).

People aged over 70 years were most likely to report wearing a face covering when outside of their home this week (80%). Women were also more likely to wear a face covering than men (76% compared with 66%).

Of those who had been shopping this week, over half (56%) said they had worn a face covering.

At the time of the survey it was mandatory to wear face coverings while shopping in Scotland, but not in England and Wales. As Figure 2 shows, over 9 in 10 adults (93%) in Scotland wore face coverings when shopping in the last seven days, compared with 54% in England and 47% in Wales.

Regardless of whether they had worn a face covering in the past, more than 8 in 10 adults (81%) said they were either very or fairly likely to wear one in the next seven days.

It became mandatory to wear face coverings on public transport in England on 15 June and in Scotland on 22 June. Of those adults who had used public transport in the past seven days, 82% had worn a face covering while doing so across all of Great Britain, and the rate in England was also 82%.

Over half of working adults (55%) said the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was having an impact on their work – a similar level to last week (54%).

Of all working adults, 8 in 10 (80%) said they had either worked at home or travelled to work this week, an increase from 77% last month (during the period 18 to 21 June 2020), and 68% two months ago (period 21 to 24 May 2020).

Over half of working adults (53%) reported they had travelled to work in the past seven days, up from 44% one month ago, and 36% two months ago.

Just over one-quarter of adults (27%) who had worked in the last seven days said they had done so exclusively at home, compared with 33% during the periods 18 to 21 June and 21 to 24 May.

Official estimates of labour market participation can be found in the Labour market overview.

More detailed information on changes to labour market participation can be found in Coronavirus and the latest indicators for the UK economy and society: 23 July 2020.

Almost 7 in 10 (65%) adults with children of school age reported that the children or young people in their household had been asked to return to school or college during June and July. Of these, over 6 in 10 (63%) said that all children or young people that had been asked, had attended school or college, with a further 1 in 5 (19%) reporting that some had attended, and some had not.

The most common reason given for children not returning to school during June and July when they had been asked to, was because of concerns around them catching the coronavirus (COVID-19) - almost half (49%) of respondents reported feeling this way.

Almost 9 in 10 adults with children of school age (89%) reported that it was either very or fairly likely that those children would return to school or college when the new term begins. Over 6 in 10 adults with children who will be of school age next term (62%) reported that they are very or somewhat worried about the children or young people in their household returning to school or college.

The concerns respondents reported most frequently were that they were worried about their children catching the coronavirus (COVID-19) when attending school or college (58%), and that they were worried about the impact on the mental health and well-being of their children because of the changes in schools and college because of the virus (42%).

Of those respondents who had reported that they had a physical or mental health condition or illness, over 6 in 10 (63%) had been receiving medical care before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Of these, almost one-third (31%) reported that their treatment had started or continued as normal since the outbreak of the pandemic, 30% had received some treatment but this had either been reduced, or they had not received treatment for all health conditions, and 21% reported that their treatment had been cancelled.

Of those who had received a reduced level of treatment, or their treatment had been cancelled, almost a quarter (24%) reported that they feel their health has gotten worse in this time.

Underlying health condition

In this bulletin, adults with an underlying health condition include those with:

• Alzheimer's disease or dementia
• angina or long-term heart problem
• asthma
• a learning disability such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or Asperger's (Asperger syndrome)
• conditions affecting the brain and nerves, such as Parkinson's disease
• cancer
• chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or long-term lung problem
• diabetes
• kidney or liver disease
• a weakened immune system such as the result of conditions as HIV and AIDS, or medicines such as steroid tablets or treatment for cancer
• problems with your spleen – for example, sickle cell disease, or if you have had your spleen removed
• being overweight (having a BMI of 40 or above)
• given an organ transplant
• stroke or cerebral haemorrhage or cerebral thrombosis
• rheumatoid arthritis

Working adults

For this survey, a person is said to be a “working adult” if:

• they had a paid job, either as an employee or self-employed
• they did any casual work for payment
• they did any unpaid or voluntary work in the previous week

The Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) is a monthly omnibus survey. In response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, we have adapted the OPN to become a weekly survey used to collect data on the impact of the coronavirus on day-to-day life in Great Britain. In this wave, 2,500 individuals were sampled, with a response rate of 64% (or 1,606 individuals) for the survey conducted from 15 July to 19 July 2020.

The survey results are weighted to be a nationally representative sample for Great Britain, and data are collected using an online self-completion questionnaire. Individuals who did not want to or were unable to complete the survey online had the opportunity to take part over the phone.

Where changes in results from previous weeks or differences between groups are presented in this bulletin, associated confidence intervals, which are included in the associated datasets, indicate their significance.

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) QMI.

Sampling

A sample of 2,500 households were randomly selected from those that had previously completed the Annual Population Survey (APS), which consists collectively of those respondents who successfully completed the last wave of the Labour Force Survey (LFS) or the local LFS boost. From each household, one adult was selected at random but with unequal probability. Younger people were given higher selection probability than older people because of under-representation in the sample available for the survey. Further information on the sample design can be found in the OPN QMI.

Weighting

The responding sample contained 1,606 individuals (64% response rate). Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population.

Weights were first adjusted for non-response and attrition. Subsequently, the weights were calibrated to satisfy population distributions considering the following factors: sex by age, region, tenure, and highest qualification, employment status, National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) group and smoking status. For age, sex and region, population totals based on projections of mid-year population estimates for July 2020 were used. The resulting weighted sample is therefore representative of the Great Britain adult population by a number of socio-demographic factors and geography.

The main strengths of the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) include:

• it allows for timely production of data and statistics that can respond quickly to changing needs

• it meets data needs: the questionnaire is developed with customer consultation, and design expertise is applied in the development stages

• robust methods are adopted for the survey's sampling and weighting strategies to limit the impact of bias

• quality assurance procedures are undertaken throughout the analysis stages to minimise the risk of error

The main limitations of the OPN include:

• the sample size is relatively small: 2,500 individuals per week with fewer completed interviews, meaning that detailed analyses for subnational geographies and other sub-groups are not possible

• comparisons between periods and groups must be done with caution as estimates are provided from a sample survey; as such, confidence intervals are included in the datasets to present the sampling variability, which should be taken into account when assessing differences between periods, as true differences may not exist