The return of the Diaries of a 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), in partnership with the newspaper PÚBLICO, relaunched the study Diaries of a Pandemic.

After some months, the Diaries of a Pandemic are back, at a time when Portugal is facing a new lockdown, and the COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency with an indefinite timeframe.

Following the principle of Citizen Science, the Portuguese are once again asked to answer a set of questions on a daily basis, in order to help researchers understand the current situation, and predict the future of the pandemic in the country.

The questions included in the newest version of the Diaries of a Pandemic survey – available HERE – are similar to those of the first phase; therefore, it will be possible to observe how our lives have changed, or not, since that period. In addition to the daily survey, and similarly to happened last year, there is also a weekly module with questions related to the participants’ well-being.

All participants who have indicated their availability to resume participation in the Diaries will be contacted via email. However, people who wish to participate in the study for the first time can also do so, even if they have not completed previous surveys.

The team responsible for the Diaries of a Pandemic would like to thank the participants who, during the first phase of the study, reported their experience regarding this public health emergency: “Thanks to your participation, we are able to better understand the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of Portuguese citizens, thus gathering useful information to understand the present and predict the future of the pandemic and its consequences”.

Between March and August 2020, more than 13.000 citizens participated in the initiative

The first phase of the Diaries of a Pandemic was launched in March 2020. Between March and August, more than 13.000 Portuguese citizens, aged between 16 and 92 years old, agreed to complete more than 350.000 surveys.

Thanks to people’s contribution, researchers were able to learn more about how the occurrence of symptoms suggestive and/or infection by the new coronavirus, the use of diagnostic and antibody tests, the access to healthcare services, the social contacts and the day-to-day activities (either for work purposes or leisure) evolved during that period, as well as the participants’ well-being.

The results of the study were first published by the newspaper PÚBLICO, and are available as a report on the websites of the leading entities (ISPUP and INESC TEC).