eprintid: 10152263 rev_number: 7 eprint_status: archive userid: 699 dir: disk0/10/15/22/63 datestamp: 2022-07-20 10:25:23 lastmod: 2022-07-20 10:25:23 status_changed: 2022-07-20 10:25:23 type: article metadata_visibility: show sword_depositor: 699 creators_name: Li, Lan creators_name: Sullivan, Ava creators_name: Musah, Anwar creators_name: Stavrianaki, Katerina creators_name: Wood, Caroline E creators_name: Baker, Philip creators_name: Kostkova, Patty title: To Zoom or not to Zoom: A longitudinal study of UK population's activities during the COVID-19 pandemic ispublished: pub divisions: C06 divisions: ZZ3 divisions: B04 divisions: UCL divisions: C03 divisions: F26 divisions: B03 keywords: Humans, Longitudinal Studies, Prospective Studies, Cross-Sectional Studies, Communicable Disease Control, Pandemics, United Kingdom, COVID-19 note: © 2022 Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. abstract: This longitudinal study determines the frequency and way of people doing activities from Spring 2020 to Summer 2021 during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Six online surveys were carried out between April 2020 and July 2021. 4,992 participants were engaged in the cross-sectional study and 203 participants who provided repeat responses were included in the subset sample of prospective cohort analysis. Primary outcomes measured were the frequency and the mode of doing the activities (online or in-person) across sixteen selected activity groups, as defined by the UK National Time Use Survey. The results show that cultural activities, spending time with others, and travelling, were the activities with the largest proportions of frequency and mode changes. The most significant changes occurred from March to June 2020, a period that included the first lockdown. Survey results from this period show a significant decrease among most of the sixteen measured activities. From March to October 2020, a period which spans the first lockdown and its subsequent ease of restrictions, showed the most significant shift from accessing activities in-person to online. Despite 'Freedom Day', the July 19th 2021 date in which all restrictions were abolished, it was found that people do cultural activities and group activities at a significantly lower frequency than before the pandemic. In addition, despite a lack of restrictions after this date, more than half of participants access many activities, such as spending time with others, shopping, work and studying, online or hybrid. This study provides an invaluable insight into understanding how people in the UK changed their lifestyle, including what activities they do, and how they accessed those activities in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and related public health policy implemented to address the pandemic. These results may serve as unique evidence for policymakers. date: 2022-07-13 date_type: published publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS) official_url: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270207 oa_status: green full_text_type: pub language: eng primo: open primo_central: open_green verified: verified_manual elements_id: 1965751 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270207 medium: Electronic-eCollection pii: PONE-D-22-08632 lyricists_name: Stavrianaki, Katerina lyricists_name: Musah, Anwar lyricists_id: KSSTA59 lyricists_id: AMUSA82 actors_name: Flynn, Bernadette actors_id: BFFLY94 actors_role: owner funding_acknowledgements: CSC-UCL 202008060009 [University Postgraduate Programme] full_text_status: public publication: PLoS One volume: 17 number: 7 article_number: e0270207 event_location: United States citation: Li, Lan; Sullivan, Ava; Musah, Anwar; Stavrianaki, Katerina; Wood, Caroline E; Baker, Philip; Kostkova, Patty; (2022) To Zoom or not to Zoom: A longitudinal study of UK population's activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. PLoS One , 17 (7) , Article e0270207. 10.1371/journal.pone.0270207 <https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270207>. Green open access document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10152263/1/journal.pone.0270207.pdf