Capacity and Quality

While it’s bad news that coronavirus is leading to extreme rates of anxiety, I think it’s good news that people are learning about our service. We’re here to support them and their loved ones 24/7. Our model has always been leveraging volunteers at home, on their couch. While other crisis centers are limiting hours or capacity, or even closing their doors, we’re ready and 100% open for business. In fact, the quality of our conversations is averaging 87% (this is up two points from our historical average!). Even better, quality for conversations mentioning “virus” is 2 points even higher: 89%.

Issues

What crisis issues are people who mention “virus” talking about?

A whopping 80% of people mentioning “virus” discuss feeling anxious. (Among texters overall, 34% of texters mention feeling anxiety.)

The top 5 distinct words texters are using in conversations (last 14 days) show the intensity of their anxiety: news panicking outbreak canceled closing

Given the quarantines, we’re keeping an eye on child abuse and domestic violence as people will be in restricted locations with abusers.

10% mention finances, up from 7% of all texters. What texters are saying (paraphrased): “This virus might make my family homeless. My husband’s job might cut hours or close, and I’m disabled. It’s all too much to deal with.” “The virus spread so fast. I just secured a part-time job, but now [my new employer] won’t give me a start date.”



Locations

Here’s a chart of where people have been texting us from about “virus” in the last week. Note – this chart is per capita, so we can see where anxiety around coronavirus is highest, controlling for population.

What texter demographics are texting about coronavirus at higher rates?

3% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (compared to 0.2% of U.S. population)

13% Asian (compared to 5% of U.S. population, and 6% of our texters overall)

18 – 34-year-olds make up over half (52%) of people texting about the virus. One theme: school cancellations and closures are a major source of anxiety.

What are the top words that make texters feel calm, related to coronavirus?