Tribal attitudes to COVID19 restrictions A study of 20K adults into compliance with different NPI (non-pharmaceutical interventions) at University College London by Dr. Liam Wright, Professor Andrew Steptoe & Dr. Daisy Fancourt found that individuals could be categorised into 4 groups. The fourth group in Figure 2.1 representing 5% of the population appeared to have a structurally different pattern of compliance, with high levels of compliance except for any restrictions related to mixing, either indoors or outdoors. These findings come on the back of a study by the Behavioural Insights Team that showed a small minority were responsible for the majority of risky contacts. Figure 2.1 - Average compliance levels in UK with NPI International comparisons on behaviours
Source: Wright et al. (UCL)
YouGov has been surveying individuals in 20 different countries since the beginning of the pandemic. Amongst the different behaviours are attitudes to personal hygiene. Figure 2.2 shows how the proportion who say that they have improved their personal hygiene has varied over time. We can see how at the start of the pandemic there was a dramatic increase to levels that were previously the norm in Asian countries such as Singapore. However more recently, we can see that the prevalence of improved hygiene in the UK has been drifting downwards to just above 50%.
Figure 2.2 - International attitudes to personal hygiene
Other research has indicated that vaccination is influencing behaviours, both through actual vaccination and through increased awareness of the scale of vaccination across the population.