Only 1 in 5 Brits admitted to stockpiling products last week

Research from our COVID-19 Human Impact Tracker shows a huge shift in at-home behaviour as more people began self-isolating in the last week. In the UK, cooking at home has increased the most (32%), while 27% are watching TV and films more, and 26% are spending more time online and on social media. 

Exercising indoors has also proved to become more popular, with 17% doing it more and ‘socialising’ at home has gone up by 22%.

At the beginning of the March, Brits were more likely to believe most companies and brands were simply profiteering from the current crisis by getting involved. However, over the past week this has changed. When thinking about who’s supporting society during this difficult time, supermarkets and grocery stores come second to the NHS.

Global and local news sites are the two of the most used sources of information regarding Coronavirus, despite trust in them being incredibly low (11% and 4% respectively). In general, a large proportion of the UK still believes that the media is overexaggerating the current crisis (39%), although this has gone down from 83% at the beginning of March. Clearly, we’re seeing more and more of the public appreciating the severity of the situation. 

Will the Government issued lockdown force the rest of the population to accept the dangers, or will some remain unconvinced?

Well over half (56%) of the population now expect to be personally affected by the crisis, this is up from 12% at the end of February. On top of this, 47% are highly concerned about germs and 1 in 3 are working from home more often than before (this was before the lockdown). 

While not everyone has been staying indoors, other measures are being followed. A huge 86% are washing their hands more frequently in the past week (vs 83% globally), while 17% are increasing the amount they shower (vs 24% globally). On top of this, almost 1 in 2 are cleaning their homes more often (vs 41% globally) - will this continue to rise now the public are restricted over when and why they can leave the house?

As the world struggles to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s impossible to predict what the next few months - or years - will bring. Knowing how people are responding right now is the best way for everyone to prepare for the unknown.

Streetbees’ COVID-19 Human Impact Tracker (HIT) monitors sentiments, attitudes and behavioural changes in 15 countries with a nationally representative sample of 15,000 people - adding more data continually and providing weekly updates on the state of the world. Please get in touch for access to HIT platform.