This is what readers of The News, Portsmouth think about easing the lockdown
WE ARE now 50 days into the lockdown and readers of The News have had their say on how and when restrictions should be eased.
Our lockdown survey, published across this title and 150 others across the UK last week, has had a great response.
It gives an insight into how the coronavirus crisis has impacted people in the Portsmouth area and what they would like to see happen in the coming weeks and months.
In total we asked readers 25 questions on their attitude towards the lockdown. In Portsmouth, more than 1,000 people gave us their views.
Of these questions five focused on how lockdown restrictions might be eased – and today we can reveal how people answered.
The breakdown
The majority of The News’ readers who completed our survey said they felt ‘slightly concerned’ about going to public places such as shops, bars, restaurants and cinemas once lockdown is eased.
By comparison, on a national level, 41 per cent answered ‘slightly concerned’, 37 per cent answered ‘very concerned’, 12 per cent answered ‘not very concerned’ and 10 per cent answered ‘not at all concerned’.
Of those who took part in the survey, a majority of The News’ readers said visits to family and friends should be given the highest level of priority when restrictions are eased. That was a view shared by more than 660 people.
The lowest priority, 78 per cent of respondents said, should be the attendance of large public events, such as festivals, concerts and live sports.
We also asked people which of the following – garden centres, DIY stores, fast food restaurants, takeaway coffee chains and electrical stores – they would be most keen to visit if they were reopened in the near future, with social distancing measures in place.
Most respondents said they were keen to visit garden centres, while electrical stores received the smallest number of votes. A total of 33.66 per cent of people said they wouldn't want to visit any of these places.
When asked how well they thought the UK government had handled the coronavirus crisis, 15.70 per cent of The News’ readers said ‘very well’, 35.60 per cent said ‘quite well’, 21.49 per cent said ‘not very well’, while 24.53 per cent stated ‘not well at all’.
The national average, by comparison, was 12 per cent for ‘very well’, 34 per cent for ‘quite well’, 24 per cent for ‘not very well’ and 28 per cent for ‘not at all well’.
Has government lockdown guidance been clear enough?
When asked how clear the UK government’s lockdown guidance had been so far, the majority of The News’ readers who took part in the survey, 33.17 per cent, said ‘quite well’.
Nationally, 30 per cent said ‘very clear’, 35 per cent said ‘quite clear’, 22 per cent said ‘not very clear’ and 14 per cent said ‘not at all clear’.
During the course of this week we will be publishing more results of what local people had to say in our lockdown survey.