One-third blame Covid-19 measures for state of economy, survey suggests

One-third of people believe the economy would be in a better place now had public health measures to restrict the spread of Covid-19 not been introduced.

Although half of people surveyed by the Economic and Social Research Institute thought the economy would be worse off, but 34 per cent said things would be better without public health measures.

The ESRI’s latest social activity measure shows most people report high willingness to follow any public health measures if necessary next winter. This willingness is heightened where survey participants were reminded of the success of measures introduced in December 2021 to stop the Omicron wave of the epidemic.

“The measures people think should be introduced in winter 2022 closely follow those they believe have been effective during the first two years of the pandemic,” according to the ESRI’s behavioural research unit. Booster vaccines, masks and working from home were ranked higher than other measures. There was less support for inter-county travel restrictions or school closures.

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The level of willingness to follow future public health measures increased with age, the survey found.

Social activity was higher in June than at any time earlier in the pandemic, driven by increases in visits to shops, outdoor places, other peoples’ homes, hospitality venues and medical facilities. The number of people met, and levels of international travel, were also at record levels during the Covid-19 era.

Conversely, six in ten adults reported rarely or never wearing masks, keeping two-metre distance or engaging in other protective behaviours, and self-reported compliance and perceived compliance of others were also at their lowest since the ESRI began tracking activity.

Trade-off

Attempting to interpret the findings on the economy in its latest bulletin monitoring public opinion on Covid-19, the ESRI says one possibility is that people recognised how policies such as pandemic payments for businesses and the unemployed mitigated the negative effect of the pandemic.

“Another is that people may not perceive a trade-off between restrictions and the economy, believing instead that public health restrictions were beneficial for the economy or made no difference.”

Respondents gave a median estimate of 30,000 Covid-related deaths occurring if no vaccine had come available and no public health measures had been introduced; so far, 7,700 deaths have been recorded.

Asked to rank the effectiveness of public health measures, respondents tended to give higher rankings to measures that involved taking an action, such as masks, vaccination and working from home, over measures that advised against an action, such as reducing household visit and the size of weddings and funerals, even though the latter actions were effective in reducing contacts and therefore the spread of the virus.

People tend to underestimate vaccine efficiency but also fail to consider waning effects over time, the survey found.

Pressure on hospitals is easing as the latest wave of Covid-19 recedes. There were 417 patients with Covid-19 in hospital on Wednesday, down from 435 the previous day. There were 29 patients with the virus in ICU, up two on Tuesday, according to the Department of Health.

Survey participants were also polled about support for Government action on climate change.

Participants reported high willingness to make day-to-day changes to help tackle climate change and half said their experience of the pandemic made them more willing. Almost 60 per cent said they would support strong action by the Government to help tackle climate change, similar to the restrictions on day-to-day life introduced to prevent the spread of Covid-19 during the pandemic.