Covid-19 Daily Bulletin 31/07: Fatigue and Frustration

142 days of pandemic.

Welcome to today’s bulletin where we’re looking at how people are feeling months into the pandemic, and what they’re concerned about.

Don’t miss any of our future bulletins by pressing the button below.

Feeling fed-up

It’s been 142 days since the WHO officially declared a pandemic. Since then, we’ve experienced rising numbers of cases and deaths, lockdowns of all shapes and forms, and faltering economies. Worst of all, these things are still with us and an ‘end’ is a long way out of view.

Friday is usually the day when we get to brush off the week’s fatigue and frustration, but life during a pandemic makes that much harder. Today we’re looking at how the world is coping.

From July 21 – 29, we used Brandwatch Qriously to survey thousands of adults around the world. We asked them about fatigue, frustration, and how concerned they were about issues relating to the virus.

Here’s what they told us.

It probably comes as a surprise that 27% of people say they aren’t feeling fatigued at all due to the outbreak. Whatever they’re doing to get themselves through the pandemic, it’s clearly working.

At the other end of the scale, 34% of respondents picked option 4 or 5, indicating they’re either ‘very fatigued’ or close to it. That’s a significant chunk of people who are really struggling.

This raises an issue we’ve talked about before. People’s mental health must be being affected by the outbreak, and burnout is a huge concern. Not only does fatigue play into this, but also frustration.

We see a very similar picture to our fatigue data when we look at frustration. Another 27% aren’t feeling it at all, but over a third (36% in this case) picked option 4 or 5.

This suggests that a lot of people are feeling the pressure. Our same survey also found that 16% of respondents are feeling very depressed or very anxious. Meanwhile, there have already been reports of a ‘tsunami’ of people experiencing mental health issues or seeing their conditions worsen during the pandemic.

What is it that’s getting people stressed? Last week we said financial woes were easing, but it looks like they’re edging back into our list of worries.

For the first time since our surveys began, more people are concerned about their country’s economy than they are about their friends’ and family’s health.

Concerns about losing investments jumped last week as well. This comes after a series of dire economic data releases from major economies the world over. We’ve all been aware that economic problems are coming but, as the figures come out and new lockdowns are enforced, any meaningful bounce back seems to feel further and further away.

Mood-wise, it’s a mixed picture. While some people aren’t struggling at all with the stresses associated with Covid-19 and lockdowns (some are actually finding elements like working from home are improving their mental health), a significant number of people are struggling and this mustn’t be ignored.

Get more in-depth data

Don’t miss our regular reports that go into huge detail on consumers and how Covid-19 is affecting them.

Head here to find out more and get signed up.

Thanks for reading

That’s it for today. Want to sign up for our bulletins? Head here.

Stay safe,

Brandwatch Response Team