5.11.20: Coronavirus origins & returning to work and school
Plus a 2020 preview
May 11, 2020.
Good Monday Morning. Once again, a very happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and maternal figures out there.
There were lots of great comments and questions that came in over the weekend, and you’ll see many of them below. I’ll try to get another Mailbag together soon to share the rest of them. Thanks again for your amazing contributions to our project.
We’ve got 5 questions to kick off yet another week, so click on the Let’s Talk button whenever you’re ready to get started.
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Results from May 8, 2020
Question 1: Based on the information you have now, what do you believe is most likely the origin of the coronavirus?
55% of respondents believed it developed, circulated and spread naturally, with the remaining 45% split pretty evenly across the different lab-based scenarios.
One interesting write-in theory:
It was a conspiracy launched by Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma Holding, S.A. de C.V.
A quick Wikipedia search reveals that’s the legal entity name for Heineken’s Mexico subsidiary, which also produces Tecate and Dos Equis.
Hmm…
Question 2: If moderate social distancing measures were instituted and all individuals were required to wear masks, would you feel comfortable or uncomfortable returning to work or school?
Many folks are comfortable returning to work or school if some precautionary measures are taken, but those with preexisting conditions are less excited about returning to work:
I have underlying health risks and would not feel comfortable going back to the office. I am very grateful that I am able to work from home.
And there were a good number of comments in support of working from home indefinitely:
I’m comfortable returning to the typical workplace, but I don’t want to. I really prefer working from home.
One respondent qualified the discomfort by saying:
I would currently be uncomfortable (even with social distancing and masks) going back to school, but that's because the cost of infection now is still very high (in the form of still overworked health care systems). If (when) the health care system recovers later this year, I'd be comfortable wearing masks and distancing at school, but only if the health care system is in a better place.
One other respondent rejected the question entirely:
You asked if we would feel comfortable returning to work with masks and certain safety measures, but there are a lot of us who have stopped following the guidelines. We don't WANT masks or tyrannical overreaching from the government.
Question 3: If the Presidential Election were held today, for which candidate would you vote?
In our second Presidential tracking poll, Biden retains an early lead amongst our respondents, but both Biden and Trump are down slightly since our last poll, conducted on April 24, when Biden was at 66% and Trump was at 24%.
Undecided has ticked up from 2.8% to 8.2%.
Question 4: Which potential VP candidate would you like to see Biden choose to join him on the ticket?
We asked Biden voters a follow-up question about their preferred picks for Biden’s VP selection. (We didn’t ask Trump voters who they thought Biden should choose, for obvious reasons…)
Elizabeth Warren (MA) was the favorite, just beating out fellow Senators and former Presidential aspirants Amy Klobuchar (MN) and Kamala Harris (CA).
Warren’s response to her win in our VP poll:
There were also some write-ins for Michelle Obama, which has strong “let’s get the band back together” energy.
Question 5: On a scale of 0 (the worst) to 10 (the best), how are you feeling overall?
Our Sentiment Index continues to trend upward, albeit slightly. The average is up to 7.1, a 0.1 increase over last week. Hope this means you all are starting to feel a little bit better!
Make it all the way through but forget to answer today’s questions?
Click on the Let’s Talk button below to get started.