‘One in seven may have broken rules’
AROUND one in seven people may have broken lockdown rules by being visited at home by friends or family, research suggests.
A study by King’s College London (KCL) with Ipsos Mori found that members of the public claimed to be sticking to the now-altered “stay at home” advice to an “extraordinary degree”.
But 14% of those surveyed said they have had home visits from friends or relatives during the lockdown – compared with 5% at the start of April.
The researchers interviewed 2,254 people aged between 16 and 75 from May 20-22, and compared some of the findings with a previous survey from April 1-3.
The poll was undertaken after the Government relaxed its “stay at home” guidance, instead adopting the slogan “stay alert” on May 10.
And it closed on the day news first broke of political aide Dominic Cummings’ alleged lockdown breach after he travelled 260 miles to County Durham in March to self-isolate with his family.
Professor Bobby Duffy, director of the Policy Institute at KCL, said there has been little information on how and when people can start seeing their families again.
He told the PA news agency: “Out of all the compliance things that’s the one that stands out.
“And it points to some of our motivations in this: that missing family and friends and not being able to see them is a big, clear, difficult thing for people to cope with, and it’s strange to people that we can do all sorts of other things like go to work now but they can’t have friends and family in their home.”
Despite the rise, Prof Duffy said the figure still demonstrated “incredible compliance when you think about how many families are separated”.
The research also found that the public is adhering to the now-replaced “stay at home” guidance to an “extraordinary degree”, suggesting the Government may “struggle to coax” people out of lockdown when measures are further relaxed.
Four in 10 adults said they had not left their home on five or more of the previous seven days.
A further wave of research will examine, among other things, how the controversy around Mr Cummings’ movements may have influenced public behaviour.
Prof Duffy said: “Even before the high-profile incident around Dominic Cummings, we had seen a decline in levels of trust and confidence in the Government over the six weeks.
“People are stuck quite firmly on the ‘stay at home’ message and the ‘stay alert’ message really hasn’t got through in quite the same way, and that complexity as we slowly make our way out of this is only going to grow.”