Coronavirus pandemic: Romanians spend more time with their families, study shows

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the Romanians’ behavior, as they are now trying to adapt to the new reality.

Thus, given the official recommendations to stay home, 6 out of 10 Romanians living in urban areas spent more time with their families, the percentage being equal for men and women, according to the Consumer Stress Score study conducted by iSense Solutions. The same percentage - 60% - communicated more with the extended family by phone or online.

Meanwhile, 40% of urban Romanians said they got involved in helping other people, while 23% of Internet users donated money to NGOs or hospitals to support efforts to combat the virus.

The same study revealed that 7 out of 10 Romanians from urban areas consider personal hygiene more important than before the current context. 53% pay more attention to it and 44% allocate as much time as before.

At the same time, 40% of respondents said they pay more attention to their personal well-being. 32% said they talked with others about issues of concern to calm down, or they used relaxation techniques. At the same time, 35% said they spent more time resting during this period.

When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, 96% of urban Romanians believe that home cooked food is healthier, and 23% of them spent more time trying to find healthy food options.

The data are part of the weekly omnibus tracker study carried out by iSense Solutions during the coronavirus epidemic to understand the behavior of Romanians, which includes 500 online interviews per week.

Another study, this time conducted by Republika communication agency, revealed that the coronavirus pandemic has brought changes at work for 54% of Romanians. The biggest changes are related to the fact that they now work from home (34.8%) and that their work schedule was reduced - 23.9%. Meanwhile, 14.3% of respondents were already in technical unemployment at the end of March.

At the same time, in the context of the Covid-19 lockdown, almost 94% of respondents go out more rarely or do not leave the house at all. Therefore, relaxation at home is essential in this period with increased stress. Almost 30% of participants to this study said they do some online shopping to feel better, 68% watch movies, while almost 50% found sweets, snacks and coffee to be the right solution during this period.

More than half of Romanians expect the local economy to return to normal at least 1 year after the state of emergency ends. After this period, most of them (69%) want to go to the mountain or to the seaside, over 28% would like to go to a concert or a festival, while more than 28% plan a vacation abroad.

Republika’s omnibus survey was conducted between March 26 and March 31 on a sample of 1,000 Romanians from all over the country, between the ages of 18 and 65.