With increasing vaccination rates and decreasing numbers of infections, the population's feeling of safety is also rising. As the results of the 37th edition of the BfR-Corona-Monitor, a regular survey conducted by the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), show, the majority of the population in Germany thinks it can control its risk of an infection well. "62 percent are confident that they can protect themselves from an infection with the coronavirus," says BfR-President Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel. "We see that the feeling of safety has increased considerably. At the end of March of this year, only 40 percent of the respondents felt they could protect themselves from an infection."
At the same time, fewer people consider the probability of contracting the coronavirus through proximity to other people to be high. A difference can be seen in the age groups: While 70 percent of those under 40 consider an infection through proximity to others to be likely, only 55 percent of those over 60 do so - possibly because more people in this age group have already been vaccinated.
The greater perceived safety from an infection also seems to have an impact on the population's leisure behaviour. For example, 59 percent of respondents say they have left the house less often in the past two weeks and 71 percent say they have limited personal contacts. At the end of March 2021, when infection rates were starting to increase again, these figures were both 10 percentage points higher.
In addition to increasing contacts and more activities outside the home, it is evident that the population is also less concerned about their social relationships. Since the end of April 2021, the proportion of respondents who are worried about this has fallen from 40 percent to currently 24 percent. Concerns about the economic situation and physical and mental health are also slowly declining among the population.