Majority want Government to lift restrictions slowly – ESRI study

A majority of people want the Government to go slowly in lifting the restrictions in place and remain nervous, particularly about the risk of a second surge of the Covid-19 virus, according to new research by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).

The clamour for a quick lifting of restrictions is coming from a "vocal minority", according to Dr Pete Lunn, head of the ESRI's behavioural science unit, who led the study team. "A comfortable majority of people want to go slowly and are quite scared," he said.

The study, commissioned by the Government as part of its monitoring of public attitudes, was conducted late last week and involved asking different groups of people about their reactions to various scenarios in which restrictions were eased.

While final results are still being compiled, Dr Lunn said it was clear that a majority of people, while they want to see progress in lifting restrictions, want the Government to move “slowly and carefully” and remain concerned about their personal safety. In particular, the study picked up “very significant worry about the risk of a second surge of the virus”.

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Many will also be slow to return to being more active even if restrictions are lifted. There is a minority who take the opposite view and have been vocal in putting the case for lifting restrictions, according to Dr Lunn.

Government decision

The study will be examined by a sub-group of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) and is likely to be one of the pieces of evidence feeding into the Government decision at the end of the week on how to proceed.

The ESRI has also been compiling tracking data on people’s compliance with the restrictions put in place. Dr Lunn said about 15-20 per cent of people say they have become less scrupulous in following the regulations. However, about 80 per cent say they are still following the rules more or less to the letter.

It was clear, said Dr Lunn, that for the vast bulk of people the regulations were still guiding their daily activities. A bit more traffic on the roads or people outside had led to speculation that people were getting tired of the restrictions and non-compliance was on a significant scale, he said. However, this was being driven by people judging what they could see, he said, and “we can’t see people staying inside in their houses”.

People realised there was a trade-off involved in the decisions to come, he said, and recognised the economic and social costs, but felt that the balance should still be towards caution.