Quarantine: although tired, Brazilians do not agree with end

After three months of quarantine, several states in Brazil, such as São Paulo, are implementing the gradual resumption of activities. Thus, to better understand how Brazilians are dealing with the beginning of this relaxation of social isolation, Culture Lab, a team of africa agency, developed the study "Relaxation in Brazil", which reveals that 76% of the Brazilian population does not agree with the relaxation of quarantine and 58.9% believe that people are acting in a more relaxed than conscious way.
Developed in June, the study composed of 409 interviewees from all over the country, from different age groups, indicates that the first quarter of quarantine brought anguish, tiredness and frustration for Brazilians and the return to "normal" is also generating anguish.
In addition, Brazilians are tired of hearing/reading news about the disease, despite continuing to consume such content, since 22.2% of people only consume news about the disease sometimes and 7.3% almost never consume it. In addition, the search for "coronavirus news" on Google showed the lowest volume in the month of June.
"There was a latent need in our clients to understand what relaxation would be like in Brazil, since the political and economic scenario is quite particular and many of the trends mapped in other countries do not apply here. Thus, in June, we conducted a quantitative survey to understand people's perceptions and actions regarding the resumption in São Paulo," explains Caroline Ferraz, director of Culture Lab Africa.
The research also finds that people are gradually returning to activities other than just work. In the second half of June, 17.4% of people said they went out to do physical exercises on the street and 14.7% to visit relatives. Despite this, essential services such as supermarkets and pharmacies are still among the main reasons to leave home, with 78.2% and 44.3%, respectively.
According to experts, quarantine holes will become more common because the body's defense mechanisms that come into action in the face of a hazard, such as the possibility of being contaminated by the virus, stop working after a while. "Our system makes efforts to adapt to new and unwanted situations of deprivation. But when we are forced to do this for a long time, this mechanism goes bankrupt and we can no longer rationalize," says Ricardo Sebastiani, who specializes in clinical psychology and public health.
Although tired of quarantine, some security measures continue to be taken by Brazilians when leaving home, such as wearing the mask. In April, 60% of Brazilians found the use of the mask very important, while in June this percentage was 95%. Also in April, only 34% of people wore the mask every time they left home, while in June 95% started to wear it all the time.
In addition to the mask, other hygiene and safety measures adopted at the beginning of quarantine are being maintained. According to the survey, 96.3% of Brazilians continue to use alcohol in gel, 90.7% washing their hands frequently and 76.5% keeping the minimum safe distance from another person.
"As we see in the study, escapades will become increasingly common. And this has scientific explanation: the failure of security mechanisms over time. Fatally we will have more stories about crowding spaces, given the frustration and eagerness to get people back. However, it surprises the awareness regarding the use of masks and the adoption of new protection routines at home, which can generate new habits for part of the population", concludes Caroline.