Abstract

This paper provides a summary of COVID-19 and wellbeing data from the January 2022 ANUpoll, the tenth poll in the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods COVID-19 Impact Monitoring Survey program. The January 2022 survey collected data from 3,472 Australians aged 18 years and over. We show a significant lowering in the per cent of Australians thought that ‘the worst of the pandemic is behind us’ (to two-in-five Australians). The proportion of the adult population who expected to be infected in the next six months increased from 40.0 per cent in October 2021 to 80.3 per cent in January 2022. As far as we are aware, this is the first data in Australia which enables a detailed analysis of the social determinants of COVID-19 infection during the Omicron wave, with the survey estimating that 7.7 per cent of Australians having received a positive COVID-19 test results in the three months leading up to the January 2022 survey. Another key finding was that between October 2021 and January 2022 there was a large decline in satisfaction with the direction of the country. There has also been a significant decline in confidence in hospitals and the health system, though in absolute terms, confidence still remains high.

The data is available through the Australian Data Archive (DOI: doi:10.26193/2MX3D0) with data visualisation and stories on this and other papers available through https://whataustraliathinks.org.au/

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