Results of the early June survey of the impacts of Covid-19 on the community of Histon & Impington

1. HI Covid-19 survey
2-7 Jun 20

2. The survey worked!
• We got 718 responses of which 93 did not declare a CB24 9 postcode. A
further 20 only gave CB24.
• The average time to complete was just 2:13. Interestingly this average
declined over time, people who completed the survey later in the week
seemed to be able to do so more quickly.
• About two thirds of respondents said they were willing to help with
ongoing research and 477 gave an email address.
• Only two people failed to give a post code or other address information.
• The unedited analysis is online but unfortunately displays a little sensitive
personal information so cannot be made publicly available

3. Before we go on: the small print
• This has not been a scientifically constructed survey with a sample carefully
selected to be representative of the community
• It probably under represents older members of the community and it
certainly excludes those who are on not on-line
• It might also not properly reflect the situation of self employed people
• However the sample base is large at almost 10% of the community and its
results can be considered as confirming information gleaned from other
sources or as indicative
• As a base line and with the above caveats it can probably be used to track
changes in the community going forward.

4. To a large extent the results are not
surprising
• There is/has been a low level of infection in the community
• This is consistent with what is known for South Cambs as a whole
• Some one third of the respondents said that they don’t normally work. Of those
that do 13% said that they were on furlough and 13 that they had been made
redundant.
• This may be a time bomb
• Two thirds of those in employment said that they were working from home and
for the majority (78%) this is exceptional
• Over 90% of the people answered the question about finances. Disturbingly 17 if
these said they were struggling and 4 said they were really hard up.
• Although the average answer to the ‘mental health question’ was 3 stars; 119
answered with 2 stars and 23 with 1 which means ‘very depressed’.
• This is the big worry

5. As a community we’ve been blessed
with low infection
• Data suggests a ‘proven’
cumulative infection of about 1%
• This compares with a reported 0.1%
for South Cambridgeshire
• Other estimates put the total
infection at 1.3%
• Similarly about 10% of the sample
reckons it has had the virus.
• Maybe take this with a pinch of salt
• We did not ask about deaths in the
community but the last reported
number was 1.
responses
never had it think I've had it have had it have it now

6. Lots of people on furlough or
already made redundant
• About one third of people reported
not normally working which is a
lower figure than the recent census
• This suggests some bias in the sample
• Of those working 13% said that
they had been furloughed
• A worrying 3% reported that they
have already been made
redundant.
• This is likely to increase as lock-down
unwinds
responses
don't normally work working normally
on furlough made redundant

7. Working from home has increased
substantially
• 17% normally work from home
but currently this number has
risen to about 80%
• This has obvious implications for
demand for office space and
commuter transport even if only
a half the extra home workers
do not return to their offices
• Some may also find that they are
no longer needed.
responses
normally work from home
working from home because of COVID
not working from home

8. There’s less money about;
sometimes a lot less
• Over 20% of respondents said
that they had less money than
they had before the lock-down
• A small number (3%) admitted
to quite serious financial
problems
• Given the reticence people have
to sharing such information this
may be the tip of an iceberg.
responses
no change a little less a lot less really hard up

9. There seems to be the start of a
mental health issue
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
How do you feel?
1 star 2 stars 3 stars 4 stars
• People were asked:
‘on a scale of 1-4 where 1 star is
very depressed and 4 stars is very
positive, how do you feel?’
• Although the average response
was 3.04 20% of those who
completed the survey were to
some extent negative about the
future
• That suggests there’s a problem

10. Now we’ve got a baseline, what do
we do next?
• Tuesday 16 Jun 20 we repeat the exercise
• Largely the same questions but sent directly to those who’ve agreed
to participate.
• We need to ask a new question:
Are you self employed?
No I am not self employed
Yes and I am working as normal
Yes but I am working reduced hours
• In the meantime we share the results of this survey

11. But in the meantime we do have
some big challenges.
• We don’t have a big clinical health problem. People should be confident to
leave their homes and use the facilities in the community
• But we need to keep it that way so social distancing remains essential and maybe we
should be encouraging the use of masks in shops etc
• Although we’ve probably been insulated from the worst of the lock-down
because of the nature of our economy we need to expect more structural
changes to patterns of work
• And there will probably be more redundancies and more people with money
problems
• Mental health is a worry even for those who are not financially affected
and we need to work hard:
• To keep the overall community spirit up; and
• To make it easy for those who need specific help (material and mental) to ask for it
and to be confident that they will get it