Week 3 of government advised lockdown – COVID-19 Survey update

Week 3 of Government advised lock down during COVID-19 pandemic. Over 400 people (n=430) in the UK were randomly surveyed between 7th and 12th of April via direct Facebook engagement as outreach from the Medsmart® community to understand their views towards COVID-19. This uses the terms and conditions and privacy of the Medsmart® community in the UK. Medsmart® engages with people who take medicines to support them in taking their medicines, and to understand their views about medicines and health conditions. 

Topline findings:

• The demographic of respondents has remained fairly constant with the majority being aged 50+ (68%) and female (72%).
• 82.2% of the responses were by those that do not have COVID-19. This result is very similar to what we saw in Survey Week 1 (80.2%).
• 96% of people are social distancing compared with 98% in previous weeks. Of those who are not practicing social distancing, 54.5% don’t believe it will help the problem.
• In Survey Week 1 the Majority (58%) of those not leaving the house got their supplies from friends and family. In Survey Week 3 the friends and family still make up the biggest proportion (51%) but more are ordering groceries online than before (25% compared with 18%).
• In Survey Week 1 the most reported symptom by those who thought they may have COVID-19 was headaches then dry cough. In Survey Week 3, the most reported symptoms by this group were aching limbs followed by headaches.
  
• Of the small minority (~2%)  with COVID-19, the majority are looking after themselves at home and have not received medical treatment (75% Survey Week 1 and 80% Survey Week 3)
• For those who are recovering from COVID-19, the majority said it took them over a week to start to feel any better (82% Survey Week 3).

At Talking Medicines we take your insight to work towards making a positive impact. We believe that by collecting data about COVID-19 we can support the more effective use of medicines. We use our Medsmart® community survey tool to ask questions, track attitudes and social behaviours during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the UK. Our COVID-19 surveys will be repeated a number of times over the pandemic period, gaining opinions from people allowing us to keep our finger on the pulse.

Stay home, stay safe, and stay on top of your medicine with the Medsmart App.