The Big Conversation: three-quarters of you are feeling the impact on your mental health
and live on Freeview channel 276
Employees have moved to working from home, breaking the ‘rule of six’ is now a crime and mask-wearing is mandatory in public spaces.
We asked our readers some key questions regarding their experiences of the coronavirus pandemic in our Big Conversation survey.
Health
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Hide AdIt has been widely reported that the country is suffering from the impacts of coronavirus on our mental health, and almost three-quarters of you admitted this to be the case, with 28.68 per cent saying it has been ‘strongly affected’ and 43.41 per cent of you saying it has been ‘slightly affected’.
Personal life
On the whole, most respondents reported still feeling comfortable carrying out most every day activities, with more than three-quarters of you being unconcerned about visiting family, and 86 per cent of you rating it as the most important thing to continue doing to maintain your quality of life.
Visiting beaches, parks and green spaces, along with eating out at cafes and restaurants came in joint second, with 58.14 per cent of you deeming both of these things to be important to maintain your wellbeing.
Hairdressers, barbers and beauty therapists will be pleased to hear that they came third on the list with 55 per cent of you deeming these visits important, and 73.61 per cent of those surveyed felt ‘comfortable’ having haircuts or beauty treatments.
Getting out and about
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Hide AdWhen asked how confident people feel about getting out and about in their communities, visiting beaches, parks and green spaces was top of the list with 84 per cent of you feeling either ‘comfortable’ or ‘very comfortable’.
Going on holidays abroad was last on the list with only 20 per cent of responses indicating they felt ‘comfortable’ leaving the country, meaning more were taking breaks in the UK, with more than half of you responding that you felt comfortable doing so.
Town centres have suffered as a result of the pandemic, with a sustained drop in footfall even after March lockdown restrictions were lifted.
Worryingly for Mansfield and Ashfield’s economy, almost 83 per cent of people have stated that they have visited the town centre less often than they did before the pandemic, with only 3.1 per cent saying they have visited ‘more’ and none saying they have visited ‘a lot more’.
Finances and spending
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Hide Ad40.31 per cent of you were worried about job security and more than half were concerned about your personal and household finances.
61 per cent of you admitted the pandemic had caused you to cut back on spending, while 38 per cent of you had made the conscious effort to focus more on small businesses when choosing where to spend your hard-earned cash.
Employment
Almost two-thirds of respondents were in paid employment, four percent of responses indicated they were still on furlough and a quarter said they were ‘not working’.
Of those who were working, 14.73 per cent stated they were ‘very comfortable’ going into work but more than a third of respondents indicated they did not feel comfortable, despite social-distancing measures being in place.