At the peak of the pandemic, Britons were searching for coronavirus-related information six times a day on average, an analysis of search engine data reveals. And although our preoccupations have changed over the months, our thirst for Covid-related information continues to outstrip that for all other health and social care-related topics.
2020 has been an extraordinary year. Never before have we been so united in our concerns and interests as we roller-coasted through the months. To better understand what that psychological journey looked like, Kaiasm, a Somerset-based data intelligence company, crunches the searches people make on Google, Bing and other internet sites. But rather than analysing the top search terms people use, it groups these together into underlying concepts, to better understand people’s needs and interests.
Using this approach, its analysts charted the Covid-related search topics that Britons typed into their search engines during 2020, ranking them by absolute increase in interest. “We wanted to understand the worries we all had during this year of Covid and how that changed month by month, reflecting on what was important to ordinary people beyond the daily news cycle,” said Liam McGee, Kaiasm’s chief scientist.
Doing so revealed some interesting insights into the British psyche: for instance, people appeared to care more about Good Morning Britain presenter Kate Garraway’s husband, Derek Draper, who was treated in hospital with Covid during April, than they did about Boris Johnson’s brush with the virus. Also, once coronavirus restrictions began to ease during the summer months, it was information about the coronavirus situation in France, Greece and Croatia that we avidly searched for – presumably in the hope of booking holidays to these destinations.
The journey through the hopes, dreams and anxieties of British society began in January, when “Covid-19” wasn’t a word, and even coronavirus seemed like a distant and abstract problem. That all changed in early March, as increasingly large one-day leaps in British infections triggered a tsunami of public interest. “If you estimate the number of Britons who searched [coronavirus update], it was about six times a day on average across the peak week,” says McGee.
As the months crept by, other previously underused words such as “furlough” and “lockdown” became everyday staples of people’s internet searches, as did hitherto unrecognised public figures such as Dominic Cummings. In May, Cummings-related searches rose 13-fold compared with the previous month – the second biggest absolute increase, after “self-employed income support scheme”. His transgressions, when so many of us were sticking to the rules and suffering as a result, clearly hit a collective raw nerve.
“It so clearly seemed to exemplify ‘them and us’, and the whole way in which you undermine public trust is by making authority seem to be about ‘them’,” says Stephen Reicher, a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews. “And then of course, the scandal ran and ran and ran, because the defence of his actions was so patently absurd. So, I don’t think it is surprising that it generated such high public interest.”
By June, a split in the nation’s interests was becoming apparent. As many people searched for information about hairdressers reopening, foreign travel advice and air bridges, and pubs reopening – apparently in that order of priority – the biggest increase in interest related to shielding advice for vulnerable groups.
In the following two months, we began to see the impact of some of those renewed freedoms, as well as further fracturing of the national experience, as first “Leicester lockdown” followed by “Aberdeen lockdown”, “Preston lockdown” and “Manchester lockdown” climbed up the nation’s worry list. During September, “Covid test” registered the biggest increase in interest, and by October it was “Covid restrictions” and “UK lockdown” weighing heavily on our collective mind. Also experiencing a surge in interest that month was Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com.
“My suspicion is that it’s a combination of my TV show coming back on air, answering direct questions about people’s finances, which are, of course, highly Covid-related, and the reannouncement of various financial support schemes, that changed rapidly during October – both the self-employed and furlough-type schemes,” says Lewis. “I think many people would have immediately tried to find out what was going on, and it’s rather flattering that they chose to look me up, and my information on it.”
There are further stories in some of the search topics that did not quite make the top 10 list each month, including “NHS rainbows” in April, and “medical grade face masks” or “charity shops reopening” in June. “I suspect that one is: my house is just full of stuff I don’t need, and I have cleared it all out and I can’t put it anywhere,” says McGee.
So, what’s preoccupying us now? Although Kaiasm has only analysed data for the first two weeks of December, “tier 3 rules”, “Joe Wicks PE lesson” and “what rhymes with coronavirus” all make it into the top 10 list. So does “Canary Islands quarantine” and “coronavirus statistics Spain”. Clearly many of us are dreaming of an escape from the overwhelmingly gloomy year we’ve experienced. Let’s hope 2021 is brighter.
A year of Britain’s worries
January: On 30 January, the World Health Organization declares a global health emergency amid thousands of fresh cases of a new coronavirus in China. Britons, who are largely watching this unfolding crisis from the sidelines, search for “coronavirus symptoms”, “how many people have died from coronavirus” and “face mask”.
February: Similar coronavirus-related searches dominate February, although as the virus edges closer, “UK coronavirus cases” and “travel advice coronavirus” begin to register on our collective worry-list.
March: Covid-19 takes off in the UK, and we can’t stop ourselves searching for information about it. During the peak informational demand week (15 March), we are searching for it five to six times a day on average – roughly a thousand times more searches than for all other medical conditions and treatments combined. “Coronavirus update” tops the list, but we are also seeking information about symptoms, guidelines, deaths, and local numbers of cases.
April: The nation is in lockdown, and “UK coronavirus deaths” is our top concern. The furlough scheme and face masks also make the top 10 list, as do “Kate Garraway husband update” and “Boris Johnson” – both individuals have been treated in hospital for Covid-19.
May: Besides Dominic Cummings and the self-employed support scheme, many of us are investigating car MOT extensions and the bounce-back loan scheme. Also, perhaps weary of Joe Wicks’ PE lessons, “when will gyms reopen UK?” is a common search topic.
June: As lockdown begins to ease, the nation’s preoccupations appear to be fragmenting: “Shielding coronavirus” update has the greatest increase in absolute growth, followed by “hairdressers reopen”, and “Scotland phase 2”, referencing the country’s newly published route map through and out of the crisis. But “Covid deaths today UK” has the greatest number of searches.
July: “Facemasks” and “UK lockdown” are our top concerns, but we are also thinking about travelling, and putting our homes on the market, with “stamp duty holiday” hitting number 10 in the chart.
August: Now that many people are returning from foreign holidays – or wondering if it’s safe to take them – searches for “self isolation”, “Covid test” and “UK quarantine list” experience a surge, as do searches for information about specific holiday destinations. Lockdowns in Aberdeen, Preston and Manchester also generate interest.
September: As schools and universities reopen, Covid cases begin to climb, and tests are in short supply. “Covid test”, “NHS coronavirus” and “coronavirus update” have the greatest increase in interest, and people begin to worry about “UK lockdown” again as well.
October: Changes to the furlough scheme and financial worries prompt a surge of interest in Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com, but “coronavirus update” still has the greatest number of coronavirus-related searches. People are also seeking information about the newly announced three-tier alert system.
November: As we re-enter lockdown, financial worries continue to grow, with a continued growth in interest regarding the self-employed income support and furlough schemes. People are also wondering whether their dentist or garden centres are open. Amid all of this gloom, the news of positive vaccine trials prompts many to search for information about the “coronavirus vaccine” and “Oxford vaccine”.
December: As we re-adjust to life post-lockdown, the tier 3 rules top our list of preoccupations. Also surfacing in our top 10 interests for the first time are “opticians and coronavirus” and “what rhymes with coronavirus”, as we presumably try to make sense of the rollercoaster year we’ve lived through.