The Mighty Survey: Coronavirus Emotions Shift From Fear to Distrust

Distrust and frustration  — especially among essential workers — are overtaking worry, fear and panic as the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to upend all aspects of life in America.

For the sixth consecutive week, The Mighty checked in with its audience, the largest healthcare community in the world, to measure the mood. We ran a survey from April 13 to April 15, hearing from thousands of Mighty members.

The level of concern over the pandemic definitely remains high, but confusing messages and policies from political and medical leaders and are now front and center in our national psyche. Twenty-nine percent of respondents cited distrust as one of their top three emotions, up from 20% at the end of March. Sixty-two percent cited frustration as their top emotion. Meanwhile, fear fell from 50% to 39% since the end of March as a top ranked emotion

Social distancing remains a hot button issue:

• 38% say social distancing policies can be confusing or hard to understand
• 34% think policies are not strict enough while 4% think they are too strict
• 28% of people ranked social distancing policies not being followed as a top concern, making it the second most concern overall (after worry that a loved one with a preexisting condition would get the disease)

Two members told us:

“My biggest concern is that my immune system is compromised. No matter how much self-isolation I do, I watch those in my community who ignore social distancing and mask recommendations and know that my odds of getting sick increase exponentially in direct response to the stupidity and inconsiderate behavior of others.”

“People come in and say they are thankful we are open so they can come ‘hang out and get out of the house.’ They are supposed to be coming out and getting what they need and leaving, and most people simply do not do that.”

Nearly one-quarter of our survey’s respondents can be categorized as essential workers, and over 87% of them work in healthcare, municipal, or food service positions. The disruption in their lives is acute:

• 78% overall say they experienced changes to their mental or emotional health (e.g., stress, anxiety, depression)
• 68% overall said they have experienced frustration or anger with those not practicing social distancing or following safety precautions
• 60% overall said they have increased fatigue or exhaustion

Here’s how two essential workers reacted:

“Working in a hospital where we do have patients with the virus has been extremely stressful, especially because now I’m sick and we’re pretty certain that I have it too, but I‘m ‘not sick enough’ to be tested which is extremely frustrating.”

“Even though I am classified as an essential worker, I have opted to stay home. I fear later backlash from my company…they have not once publicly supported those of us who [haved] opted out of work and today the company is in the news for unsafe practices in their warehouses.”