OBJECTIVES: To analyse long-term acceptability of COVID-19 hygiene measures within the general population and compare with a sample of those living with respiratory diseases.

METHODS: An online survey was conducted during June 2021 to seek opinions from the UK population on the opinion of the long-term acceptability of COVID-19 hygiene measures. Responder, n=104, 88% UK residents. Survey questions are based on those posed by Asthma UK – British Lung Foundation (AUK-BLF) partnership, as part of ongoing work to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Proportions across genders were compared with Chi Square analysis, p≤0.10 was taken to indicate statistical significance.

RESULTS: We compared results to those presented by Hurst (2021) who concluded that people living with airways diseases are supportive of infection control measures to reduce the risk of exacerbations and such measures should be considered for inclusion in guidelines. Broadly the results from the general population cohort are similar to the respiratory disease population, with some interesting inflections. Results were similar between policy and when living in ‘flu season’.

Women were more likely than men to be supportive of continuation of hygiene measures. A chi-squared test of independence showed that there was a significant association between gender and being supportive of the continuation of hygiene measures, p = .10. However, no significant association between gender and avoiding busy public spaces or avoiding friends and family who are unwell.

An older population sample (Hurst 2021), was compared to our younger sample who were more accepting of hygiene measures.

CONCLUSIONS:

Our sample size is smaller than Asthma UK, there is potential to continue with data collection and compare results with a larger sample. Further comparisons could be made in time as both the respiratory and general population leave the pandemic. The medical background and risk of COVID-19 within this control group is unknown.