As another week goes by, it seems like the world is starting to set into a new normal, a coronavirus normal. The coronavirus pandemic and resulting lockdowns, self-isolation, and school closures have meant that communities need to rapidly adjust to a new way of life. Now more than ever, the public is taking to the internet to share their concerns, needs and quarantine routines and we can look at those conversations to really understand – what’s on their mind.
Over the last couple of weeks we released reports which analyzed over 8M online data points from the first weeks of March. This analysis highlighted the key concerns of communities in over 100 cities across the US regarding COVID19.
Our goal with these reports was to aid local government teams- the men and women on the frontlines of the COVID-19 outbreak- to efficiently identify their community’s needs and better shape their crisis response, policies, and messaging.
But as the crisis continues to unfold, there is an acute need for updated, relevant data to support these big decisions. And that is why we’re sharing this new, updated version, analyzing 5.7M online interactions from this past week.
While in our previous report we found that residents were most concerned with operations of cultural/entertainment institutions (over 44% of the comments), this week’s data is more diversified, highlighting the fact that COVID-19 has now touched every facet of city life.
Specifically, we see the leading topics this week touch on the very fabric of society and of residents’ lives, both positively and negatively, making crime and scams (13%) and community resilience and solidarity (12%) take the lead.
Before diving into the specific concerns of city residents, let’s take a quick look at how the discourse volume has changed since our previous analysis (March 11-17). After a peak in the discourse last week (specifically on March 16th), the discourse dropped and has remained consistent since. Overall, there was a 15% drop in discourse volume. We presume that this is in part due to the fact that residents have begun to adjust to the new normal amid the pandemic, causing a subsequent drop in online conversations.
Accordingly, let’s examine how residents’ key concerns/points of interest have diversified over this past week:
We see that contrary to past weeks, there is no singular issue that is dominating the conversation (such as cultural/entertainment establishments or school closures in past weeks). This indicates that many fundamental uncertainties/fears within a city have been addressed, such as whether schools will remain open, transmission anxieties, and cancelling of public events.
Rather, residents have shifted their focus to discuss adjustments to their routine, potential threats in their transformed day to day, and likely new, permanent changes that will be seen in their community.
The leading concerns tell a moving story of the fight to keep the fabric of society together. On the one hand, the leading category (Crime and Scams) shows the security challenges that this new situation brings. On the other hand, the elevated discussions about volunteering reinforces a sense of hope as communities across cities come together to support ones in need. No one knows exactly what will come, but we do know that society- government, healthcare, the economy, our lifestyles, and more- will change.
Below is a deeper examination of the new key concerns:
Panic-buying and social distancing at stores
As local governments need to shape new policies, support the vulnerable members of their communities, and constantly share information, we hope that these key concerns could help better inform teams on areas for prioritization. Take a look at our updated report that analyzes data from the 25th of March to the 31st.
Zencity also released a short one-pager describing main ways our 130+ partner network leverages the platform in light of the coronavirus crisis. Read more here: