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JUST OVER ONE in ten people reported feeling downhearted or depressed “all” or “most of the time” in the last four weeks, according to the results of a new survey published today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
Its survey of 1,585 individuals found that more than one in three people (35.6%) rated their overall life satisfaction as “low” this November. This compared to 29.6% in April 2020 and 8.7% in 2018.
However, more than 71% of people said the Level 5 response to managing the risks of Covid-19 was an “appropriate” measure. On the other hand, 18.3% of people felt Level 5 was “too extreme” while 10.2% of people said it was “not sufficient”.
These responses form part of the CSO’s latest survey on the societal impact of Covid-19 by looking at well-being and lifestyle under the Level 5 restrictions, which are set to expire from tomorrow.
CSO Statistician Claire Burke said: ‘The findings of the survey serve to highlight the impact that Covid-19 is having on society.”
Just under two-thirds of people (65.2%) rated their compliance with government advice and guidelines as “high”. This compares to 80.6% of people saying they had high compliance in April.
Around four in ten (39%) believe that their lives will return to something like it was before Covid-19 within the next 12 months. A further 45.3% of people believe it will take one to two years. Less than 7% believe that things will go back to some normality within the next six months.
Almost three in ten (28.7%) said that spending more quality time with the people they live with is one aspect of their lives that has changed for the better since the start of the Covid-19 crisis.
Furthermore, more people who are working from home said it was now easier (35.6%) than more difficult (27.3%). Around one in five said they were finding a better work-life balance during the pandemic than they had before.
However, the percentage of respondents who said they felt lonely “all” or “most of the time” in the four-week period doubled between April and November, from 6.8% to 12.7%.
More than 17% of female respondents felt lonely all or most of the time compared to 9.9% of male respondents. People aged 18-34 were most likely to feel lonely all or most of the time with 25.6% of those in this age group saying they felt this way.
Overall, people believed they were less likely to contract Covid-19 in November than in April. In April, 23.7% of people said they had a medium or high chance of developing Covid-19. This fell to 16% in November.
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I had a baby at the beginning of the first lockdown & found it quite hard. But for this second one I have found it exceptionally hard. My baby is 8 months old and barely met any family or friends. We are home most of the time; unless it’s dry and then we get a walk.
I know this is all necessary for the greater good, but still, it’s been tough going.
@Shala: I live on my own havent seen family or friends for weeks very lonely tough going
@Shala: The 2nd lockdown was easier for us as the Creche’s were open at least, the first one was a nightmare trying to work full time while looking after a young child.
Lockdown fatigue. The HSE need to start moving away from testing to getting the vaccine programme up and running, cause most things the HSE turn their hand to is a disaster, they’ll need all the time possible to get even a half-ar$ed programme of vaccination up and running.
What lockdown are ye all talking about? roads jammed every day, 20+ parents chatting at school gate every morning. My wife works for ETB in the Northwest and even this Government body is insisting workers attend in person even on days the class is online. So if numbers remain stubbornly high its because of this half arsed lockdown and thousands of school kids running riot around every town and village in the country.
@Bala mc blaha: very sweeping statement of course there was more traffic with schools open this time. Were you in every village and town. No shops open only essential our nearest town was almost deserted
@Mary Oliver: Parts of Dublin have been like a playground this time around. Kids running riot , parents gathering to chat at the schools, plenty of everything opened, hirdressers, non essential household shops opened , kids playing matches every weekend. Lockdown? I think infatictly not.
@Dixieblue: *emphatically
@Dixieblue: hairdressers and non essential shops were closed for the last 4 weeks under level 5.
@Franny Ando: Told to close and actually closing is two different things.
@Edward Natali: if there was a barbers open during level 5 I am going to be very annoyed! Having searched the city all over looking for one and being unable to find one, could you kindly advise on where these hidden little rogues were operating during lockdown?…. Yeah, I thought not…
@Dixieblue: where all Dublin? Not the case here
@Bala mc blaha: I was in the city today and it was like a ghost town.
@Franny Ando: Not everywhere they weren’t!
@Mary Oliver: I said PARTS of Dublin, not all.
@Eoin Jackson: D10
Rightly so. Lockdown are wrong and governments shouldnt be allowed to have that level of control over their citizens especially for a virus that kills less that half of one percent of the people it infects.
@Tommy Fitzgerald:
It kills 2.5%…
Sorry but the let them die, I am off to the pub strategy is a bit Logans Run for rest of us…
How many people have to die before you might rethink your strategy?
@Cowboy Paddy: We should be having 25 deaths a day by now when we were having multiple daily cases above 1000 weeks ago according to your information.
@Cowboy Paddy: it does not, has not and probably never will kill 2.5% of the people it infects… seriously lads the general level of education on this site is more damning to the Irish state than our response to covid! There is a huge difference between case fatality rate and infection fatality rate, unless of course you believe everyone that has or will ever get covid has had a positive test…
The report also has something we all know, behavioural issues is an underlying condition causing the death, the third cause 12.3% of the death are directly link with the behaviour with or without diagnosed mental illness/disorder
Karma or irony?
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