Notes on Coronavirus: How is America Feeling? Part 4.

There are 8 points here. It’s rough. Keep reading. #8 is inspiring.
 
1. “Peak” COVID is plateau-ing.
  • % of conversations mentioning: virus, COVID, quarantine, or lockdown. Last 5 weeks, for the weeks starting:

    • Mar 2: 1%

    • Mar 9: 9%

    • Mar 16: 22%

    • Mar 23: 24%

    • Mar 30 – April 6: 24% (We’re at the peak, and steady with last week)

  • Has your school or workplace been closed as a result of coronavirus / COVID-19?

    • Four weeks ago: 53%

    • Three weeks ago: 77%

    • Two weeks ago: 84%

    • Last 7 days: 86%

 
2. We are starting to see more conversations about grief.

4% of our conversations are now about grief. Grandma and Grandpa are trending in the top 5 words in grief conversations.

 
3. Quarantines are a source of pain.
  • “Quarantine” is now directly mentioned in 8% of conversations, up from 5% two weeks ago, and 2% a month ago. And “home” or “house” is mentioned in ~14% of conversations.

  • Isolation / loneliness is in 35% of these conversations, up from 20% of all conversations.

  • Mentions of sexual assault and emotional abuse are 25% higher in these conversastions

  • Eating disorder/body image issues are 45% higher.

 
4. The teens continue to be alright–but the children (under 13s) are in pain. 18-24 is our largest segment.
 
Bar graph of weekly texters by age before COVID and during COVID.

 

5. Conversations from Essential / Frontline Workers increased 4x in the last month. We’re now seeing ~4% of our conversations explicitly mention the stress of being a frontline or essential worker. Top 20 unique words include: precaution, gloves, risk, and careful. So today launched ForTheFrontlines.org just for these incredible people. Please share with essential workers in your life.
6.  Intense Anxiety and Depression
  • Insight: ~ 2/3 of texters are experiencing more intense anxiety and depression associated with COVID.

  • Data: The data below is based on the PHQ scale, a standard clinical measure of anxiety and depression: “For each of the following, how have concerns around coronavirus affected how you feel, compared to how you normally feel?”

7. Shifting self-care routines.
How has coronavirus and related issues, such as lockdowns, changed how you self-care?
  • Changing social relationships/loss of support networks.
    • 89% of texters mention spending less time with friends.
    • 36% of texters mention spending less time with family, 45% say more time.
      • Those spending less time are more likely than other texters to be anxious (76% vs. 72%) and depressed or hopeless (75% vs. 65%)
  • Less healthy habits
    • 60% report eating less healthy food, only 13% report eating more healthy food
    • 56% report exercising less, only 25% report exercising more
  • 71% of texters say they are watching more tv/movies.
  • The norm is disruption.
    • 42% of texters are sleeping less, 45% sleeping more.
 
8. Whats making us smile? Three signs of resilience…
(a) Our Crisis Counselors are freaking amazing. A whopping 6075 incredible trained volunteers have been on the platform in just the last 28 days. Think about that. Despite their own pain, they’re caring for others.
(b) In the last month, the biggest occupation of people applying to volunteer with us? Medical and healthcare industries. (What?!) They make up 17% of applicants right now.
(c) Volunteer applicants identifying as Asian this week made up 24% of applicants, which is more than 2x normal (11%).
Heck yeah, America. Fight on.

 

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