Teleworking is more common in Lisbon’s metropolitan area, and healthcare professionals, primary sector workers and people with less education are those who work most outside their homes. Visits to friends and relatives have doubled and the daily percentage of people who have contacted five or more people outside their household increased. These are some of the results released by the study “Diaries of a Pandemic”. The data concern the period between March 23 and May 10 this year, and sought to understand how the life of the Portuguese citizens evolved during and after the state of national emergency, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP) and the Institute for Systems and Computers Engineering, Technology and Science (INESC TEC) are the entities in charge of the research, in partnership with the newspaper PÚBLICO. The study invites citizens to answer a set of question on a daily basis, which will help understanding the evolution in the lives of Portuguese people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The results released apply to the period between March 23 and May 10, 2020. 13,517 individuals participated in the study, completing more than 200,000 questionnaires.
Healthcare and primary sector workers, as well as people with less education, were the ones who worked more outside their homes
Among the employed participants, results show an increase of nearly 50% of activities carried out at the workplace between March 23 and May 10.
Healthcare workers and primary sector workers (agriculture, livestock production and fishing), as well as secondary sector professionals (manufacturing industries, construction, gas and water supply), were the ones who more often left their homes to work.
According to the report, the percentage of healthcare professionals working outside their homes increased up to 39% during the last week of the state of emergency, and to 44% by May 10. However, secondary sector workers represent the highest increase: from 21% in the final days of March to 36% by May 10.
In addition, one can observe that people with less education were the ones who worked outside their homes the most, with an increase from 28% (in the first half of April) to 45% (between May 4 and 10).
Teleworking is more frequent in Lisbon’s metropolitan area
Among the employed participants, 53% were teleworking between March 23 and 29, with a decrease of 48% by May 10.
Teleworking was more frequent in Lisbon’s metropolitan area and less common in the Central region of the country.
People aged 60 or over and individuals with higher education were the ones who mentioned teleworking the most.
The daily percentage of people who have contacted five or more people outside their household increased
During the aforementioned period, the percentage of people who had face-to-face contact with five or more individuals outside their household almost doubled, which may be associated with the recommencement of professional activities.
These contacts were more frequent among inhabitants of the Centre and Alentejo regions, and less frequent among people from Lisbon’s metropolitan area. Healthcare professionals, primary and secondary sectors workers and individuals with less education (basic education or less) were the ones who admitted having this type of contacts more frequently.
Double the visits to friends and relatives
Visits to friends and relatives have doubled over the previously mentioned period. Younger people and residents of the North, Centre and Alentejo regions were the ones who most frequently left their homes for said purpose.
Moreover, the inhabitants of Lisbon’s metropolitan area mentioned having contacted more frequently with friends and family via telephone and Internet, similarly to the respondents with a higher level of education.
Daily trips to the supermarkets more common in the Alentejo and Algarve regions
Daily trips to supermarkets decreased in April and increased again in May, reaching percentages similar to those in the end of March.
The inhabitants of the Alentejo and Algarve regions were the ones who most mentioned going to supermarkets, hypermarkets or grocery stores on a daily basis, which could mean a smaller number of stores available in these regions.
On the other hand, visits to other types of commercial establishments (excluding supermarkets and pharmacies) doubled between the end of March and May 10, and were mainly referred to by men and people aged 60 or over.
Younger people consider being more at risk of infection
Out of the total number of participants in the “Diaries of a Pandemic”, 16% considered being at high or very high risk of infection, particularly during the first two weeks of the analysis (March 23 to April 5). Younger individuals always considered being more at risk of infection.
In addition, the percentage of people who reported having recent contacts with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 dropped to less than half during the aforementioned period.
People should keep participating!
The researchers of the “Diaries of a pandemic” will continue to collect information about the way the Portuguese people act according to a set of situations that may influence the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal, and they will release new results on a weekly basis.
In order to keep producing relevant scientific knowledge in this field, we need your collaboration. In this sense, we ask you to keep dedicating 5 to 10 minutes of your time and answer our survey questions.
If you’re not part of the “Diaries of a Pandemic” yet, you can start right now.
You can also check the results from previous weeks here.
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