Over two-thirds of Australians (69%) claim they are following Government directives to self-isolate as much as possible to fight the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. However, 31% say they were ‘not’ self-isolating according to a special Roy Morgan Snap SMS survey of an Australia-wide cross-section of 2,069 Australians aged 18+ conducted on Friday March 27 – Saturday March 28, 2020.
The survey conducted before Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Sunday evening (last night) talk to the nation creating a new two-person rule on gatherings is an important benchmark to see if more Australians self-isolate when Roy Morgan repeats the survey…
Self-isolation most likely for Women and older Australians
Analysis by Gender shows more women (73%) claim to be self-isolating than men (65%).
Analysis by Age shows older Australians aged 65+ (84%) are the most likely to claim to be self-isolating ahead of young Australians aged under 25 (70%). In contrast less than two-thirds of those aged 50-64 (66%), 25-34 (65%) and 35-49 (62%) claim to be self-isolating.
Older Australians are the only age group where a majority identify themselves as a ‘risk group’
Over two-thirds of Australians (69%) say they are not in a risk group and this majority is consistent across both Genders and younger age groups.
Analysis by Gender shows nearly three-quarters of men (73%) and two-thirds of women (64%) say they are not in a risk group.
Large majorities of those aged under 25 (90%), 35-49 (84%) and 25-34 (80%) say they are not in a risk group. This drops to under two-thirds of those aged 50-64 (65%).
However, older Australians aged over 65 are aware about COVID-19 and over three quarters (77%) say they are in a risk group.
Of those who claim they are self-isolating 63% say they are not in a risk group while of those who do not claim they are self-isolating a much higher majority of 82% say they are not in a risk group.
Three quarters of Australians have been with their family in the last 24 hours
Three-quarters of Australians (75%) say they have been with members of their family over the last 24 hours. This result is consistent both for Australians who claim they are self-isolating (76%) and those who claim they are not self-isolating (75%).
Over a fifth of Australians (22%) say they have been with business colleagues over the last 24 hours. A substantial 49% of Australians who claim they are not self-isolating have been with business colleagues over the last 24 hours compared to only 10% of those who claim they are self-isolating.
Just over one-in-ten Australians (11%) say they have been with friends over the last 24 hours including 18% of Australians who claim they are not self-isolating and only 8% who claim they are self-isolating.
In addition, about one-in-seven Australians (14%) have been with other people over the last 24 hours. This rises to 25% of Australians who claim they are not self-isolating compared to only 9% of Australians who claim they are self-isolating.
Overall 88% of Australians have been with somebody over the last 24 hours compared to 12% who haven’t been with anybody.
Almost all Australians will self-isolate on doctor’s orders
A super majority of 97% of Australians would self-isolate if their doctor advised them they were in a risk group and this viewpoint is consistent across both Genders and all age groups.
At least 95% of both Genders and all age groups agree that they would follow doctor’s orders to self-isolate if their doctor told them they were in a risk group.
This follows Modelling released last week from the University of Sydney, which showed that the coronavirus can only be controlled if 8 out of 10 Australians stay home:
The success or failure of Australia’s coronavirus fight relies to a remarkable degree on just one thing, new modelling has found.
And that thing is whether individual Australians now follow official advice — and just stay home.
The data comes from a complex model of how COVID-19 could spread in Australia, which finds:
Coronavirus will continue to spread virtually unchecked unless at least eight in 10 Australians stay home as much as possible.
If that slips even slightly — to seven in 10 people — the fight to ‘flatten the curve’ will be lost…
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Thus, it would appear that not enough Australians are staying home and further restrictions are required.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
