Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey

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Insights into the prevalence and nature of impacts from COVID-19 on households in Australia.

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Reference period
July 2022
Released
31/08/2022
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Key statistics

  • Two in five Australians (42%) reported a household member had experienced cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms in the past 4 weeks.
  • Almost half (48%) reported a household member had a COVID-19 test in the past four weeks, down from 62% in April 2022.
  • Of those testing for COVID-19, a similar proportion reported a positive result (27% compared to 23% in April 2022).
  • Job situation changes due to being a COVID-19 close contact fell from 28% in April 2022 to 14%.

This is the first Household Impacts of COVID-19 survey since April 2022.

This latest series will provide information on COVID-19 and cold/flu symptoms, COVID-19 testing, and the impacts of COVID-19 and cold/flu on employment, school, or childcare attendance.

The survey was collected as a topic on the Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS) via telephone interviews with over 2,100 fully responding participants between the 10th and 30th July.

Where results are compared over time, comparisons are made based on the weighted representative data for each survey. The results for all past surveys can be accessed by selecting ‘View all releases.’

Proportions marked with an asterisk (*) have a Margin of Error (MoE) greater than 10 percentage points which should be considered when using this information.

For more information about the survey design including weighting and MoEs refer to the Methodology

COVID-19 context

At the time of the survey, Australia was facing a new Omicron wave which resulted in high numbers of COVID-19 related hospital admissions.

Masks were recommended but not mandatory in most settings, and from early July 2022, travellers to Australia were no longer required to declare their COVID-19 vaccination status.

Since April 2022, isolation rules for close contacts have been relaxed and those without symptoms are now less likely to require isolation.  

The eligibility for the fourth COVID-19 vaccination was expanded to include over 30’s in July 2022.

Symptoms and testing

The survey asked about household experiences with COVID-19 symptoms, tests, and positive cases in the past four weeks. These were previously asked in April, March and February 2022. From July 2022, the questions were expanded to cover both COVID-19 and cold or flu symptoms.

While more households reported symptoms in July 2022, fewer reported COVID-19 testing:

  • 42% of Australians reported someone in their household had symptoms of a cold, flu, or COVID-19, up from 32% in April 2022
  • 48% of households reported testing for COVID-19, down from 62% in April 2022.

Of those who reported someone in their household testing for COVID-19:

  • 94% used a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT), consistent with April 2022 (96%)
  • 19% used a Polymerase Chain Reaction PCR test, consistent with April 2022 (22%)
  • 27% reported a household member tested positive in July 2022, which was not statistically different to April 2022 (23%).
  1. Prior to July, respondents were only asked about COVID-19 symptoms, but the symptoms are consistent. Symptoms of cold, flu or COVID-19 include; cough, fever, difficulty breathing, sore throat, tiredness, joint aches, headache, runny or stuffy nose, any changes in taste or smell, nausea and/or vomiting, chills.
  2. Includes Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) or Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests.
  3. Of households where a member had a COVID-19 test, proportion where one or more tested positive.
  4. The proportion of positive COVID-19 cases relates only to the households reporting someone had taken a COVID-19 test in the four weeks prior to the survey. The data is not directly comparable with official measures of positive COVID-19 cases reported from health surveillance systems.  

School or childcare attendance

Impacts of COVID-19 on school or childcare attendance

In July 2022, 15% of Australian households with children aged under 18 years reported their children’s school or childcare attendance was impacted by COVID-19 (down from 33% in April 2022). 

Australians with children in the household whose childcare and school attendance was impacted by COVID-19 in the last four weeks, reported:

  • a child being unable to attend due to testing positive to COVID-19 (53%, which was not statistically different to 44% reported in April 2022)
  • a decrease in children being unable to attend due to being a COVID-19 close contact (21% compared to *51% in April).
  1. Includes school, preschool, childcare or out of school hours care.

Impacts of colds and flu on school or childcare attendance

For the first time, this survey asked households with children aged under 18 whether a child experienced any impacts on school or childcare attendance due to a cold or flu in the past four weeks.

In July, one in five (21%) households with children reported that school or childcare attendance was impacted by a cold or flu.

Working arrangements

Potential impact of COVID-19 on working arrangements

The survey asked employed Australians how their main job would be impacted if they contracted COVID-19. The most common responses in July 2022 included:

  • not being allowed to work until well enough (65%), up from 51% in April 2022
  • being required to work from home if well enough (19%), down from 41% in April 2022
  • working from home if well enough (25%), consistent with April 2022 (26%).

When asked about the impacts for their main job if they were a close contact of someone with COVID-19:  

  • 40% would not be allowed to work for the required isolation period, similar to April 2022 (40%)
  • 24% could return to the workplace, up from 10% in April 2022
  • 20% could choose to work from home and 17% would be required to work from home.

Job situation changes due to COVID-19

In July 2022, one in four (23%) Australians reported that the job situation of someone in their household had changed in one or more ways due to COVID-19 in the last four weeks (up from 18% reported in April 2022). Of these:

  • nearly twice as many reported changing to working from home in July 2022 (11%), compared to April 2022 (6%)
  • a similar number (9%) reported being unable to work for a period of time due to COVID-19 in July 2022 compared with April 2022 (7%).
  1. Respondents may report more than one job situation change. Components are not able to be added together to produce a total.

Of Australians with a household member who experienced a change in their job situation due to COVID-19 in July 2022, the reasons included:

  • testing positive to COVID-19 (34%, similar to 32% reported in April 2022)
  • workplace asked staff to work from home where possible (28%, up from 10% in April 2022)
  • close contact of someone with COVID-19 (14%, down from 28% in April 2022).

Job situation changes due to cold or flu

For the first time, this survey asked households with symptoms in the past four weeks whether they experienced any job-related changes due to someone having a cold or the flu.

Of households that had someone with symptoms, 37% reported that the job situation of someone in their household had changed due to having a cold or flu.

The most common job situation changes reported in July 2022 included:

  • being unable to work for a period of time (27%)
  • changing to working from home (12%)
  • working reduced hours (10%).

What's next?

The survey will be undertaken with the same topics in August 2022. Results from the August 2022 survey will be released in September 2022.

The results for past publications can be accessed by selecting ‘View all releases’ in the header of this publication.

The ABS would like to thank all participants for their involvement in the survey. The information collected is of value to inform government and community responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data downloads

Tables 1 - 6

Data files
Download xlsx [129.07 KB]

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 4940.0.

Methodology

Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey methodology, July 2022

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