A fifth of people are worried about catching Covid-19

A fifth (21%) of people are currently worried about catching Covid-19, while just under a fifth (18%) are worried about becoming seriously ill from the disease, find UCL researchers as part of the Covid-19 Social Study. These figures are the lowest* since the beginning of the pandemic, but worries about catching the disease have been rising among those aged 18-29 over the past two months. Currently, 28% in this age group are worried, compared to 20% of adults ages 30-59 and 19% of adults ages 60 plus. Since the easing of restrictions in March for the latest lockdown, people not living with children have also been more worried (currently 22%) about catching Covid-19 than those living with children (currently 19%). Conversely, keyworkers have been less worried about catching the virus than non-keyworkers since last summer (currently 18% of keyworkers say they are worried versus 22% of non-keyworkers) but differences between these two groups in worries about falling seriously ill from it have been negligible. People with a mental or physical health diagnosis, people with lower household incomes, and women have generally been more worried about both catching and falling ill from Covid-19 over the course of the pandemic. It is the UK's largest study into how adults are feeling about the lockdown, government advice and overall wellbeing and mental health with over 70,000 participants who have been followed across the last 64 weeks.