When we think we’ll be free of Covid-19

Are you feeling anxious, tired, frustrated? You’re not alone. Take a look at how Aussies really feel about Covid-19 – and how long most of us think it’s going to be part of our lives.

Australians are mentally preparing for the long haul in the battle against Covid-19, with an overwhelming majority convinced it will be 2023 or even later before we get our lives back.

Results of a new study reveal one in three Aussies (34 per cent) believe Covid-19 will still be impacting their lives up until 2025.

Almost one in seven (14 per cent) of the 1000 Australians polled by Bastion Insights

said they expected the virus would be affecting them for the rest of their lives.

And they might be right: speaking recently about the need for booster shots, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the world would be living with Covid-19 “for decades”.

Women were significantly more likely than men to feel pessimistic about the future, according to the Bastion study, while Australians aged under 30 tended to be more positive.

Bastion Insights CEO Dianne Gardiner said Australians were now experiencing levels of psychological distress at around the same level as April 2020, at the height of the first wave of the pandemic.

More than a quarter of respondents (28 per cent) said they had felt anxious some or all of the time over the past week, and almost as many (26 per cent) said they felt everything was an effort.

“Earlier in the year we thought life was under control,” Ms Gardiner said. “But with everything that’s gone wrong in June and July, people are realising it’s not.”

The gender split regarding the future was not unusual, Ms Gardiner said, as females “tend to be a little more pessimistic … almost as if they are worriers by nature”.

Despite the gloom, nearly two in three respondents (65 per cent) said they feel somewhat or very optimistic about their personal future, while a slightly smaller cohort (61 per cent) said they felt that way about Australia’s future.

Author and resilience expert Alison Earl said there was “almost an element of post traumatic stress” in the way Australians were feeling right now.

“The moment there’s even any indication that there’s another lockdown or outbreak, it triggers a very strong emotional response in people,” she said.

Ms Earl said many Australians were also experiencing “resilience fatigue”.

Dianne Gardiner, CEO and social researcher at market research consultancy, Bastion Insights.

Mindset and resiliency expert Alison Earl. Picture: Supplied

“We’re getting tired,” she said. “There’s an exhaustion from trying to be positive and trying to maintain optimism when you just keep coming up against road blocks. So the optimism backfires.”

Contrasting this, the recent vaccination targets set by National Cabinet would have a powerful motivating effect for many people, Ms Earl said.

“The stages are really important to make it feel achievable,” she said.

The setting of “freedom goals” when there had been insufficient vaccine supply was counter-productive, she said.

“But now people can access the vaccines, we’re starting to feel like there are options and people are starting to feel hope. That’s important,” she said.