As may be expected, the coronavirus pandemic has impacted Utahns’ lives in major ways — from buying extra food to working from home to canceling travel plans, to name but a few of the daily changes, a new UtahPolicy.com/2News poll finds.
In fact, it may be hard-pressed to recall another time in many of our current citizens’ lives when a national event has impacted our daily lives more.
Our pollster, Y2 Analytics, asked a number of questions to respondents trying to measure how much our daily lives have changed, and the worry now imposed upon us all.
Some of the questions and numbers:
How worried are you that someone in your immediate family may catch the coronavirus?
65 percent said they are “very” or “somewhat” worried someone close to them may become ill with the virus — nearly two-thirds of households.
That’s very illustrative because experts don’t expect that many Utahns to become infected. So, clearly, there is a lot of fear out there.
Women are much more fearful than are men: 70 percent of women are “very” or “somewhat” worried that a family member will catch the virus, while only 58 percent of men feel that way.
Specifically, have you changed your daily habits in any of the following ways?
Bought extra food or supplies? 66 percent said yes, only 24 percent said no.
Now you know who is buying out the shelves at your local grocery store — two-thirds of your neighbors.
Limited your social interactions? 94 percent said yes. That’s good news for Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and his coronavirus task force — they want Utahns to drastically curtail how they interact with others.
71 percent said they have changed their travel plans because of the virus.
62 percent said they are working at home instead of going into their offices or other places of work.
And 55 percent said they have put off making a major purchase — like a house, car or major appliance — because of the virus. That indicates there will be considerable pent up demand once the virus clears Utah.
Still, 45 percent said they have not put off such a major purchase — but, then, they may not have been planning one in the first place.
Finally, it may soon come to pass that government officials ask all Utahns, even all Americans, to wear some kind of face mask when they are out in public.
But, so far, Utahns haven’t been doing that.
Y2 finds that only 6 percent have been wearing such masks in public, while 94 percent have not.
Taken all together, Y2 finds that 80 percent of Utahns say the pandemic has had a “very major” or “somewhat major” impact on their day-to-day daily lives.
And, again, women feel more of an impact than do men: 87 percent of women say the virus has had a major impact on their lives, only 72 percent of men say that.
Perhaps that’s in part due to women playing more of a role in childcare and food preparation — so they are working harder at home now than they did before the virus outbreak, with kids out of school and restaurants closed to in-person dining.
Y2 polled 1,331 individuals between March 21-30, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percent.
