Fears of Transmission in May Ring True in June

As reported exclusively in Defense One.

After COVID-19 prompted nationwide shut-downs in March, reopening presents a challenge for employers working to prioritize both organizational mission and the health of their employees and clients. As the nation’s largest employer, the government contends with an increasingly politicized pandemic, security hurdles made difficult by remote work, and a nation in need of critical services. 

To capture the challenges of working for the government during this unprecedented time, Government Business Council (GBC) polled over 600 Defense One readers between May 8-14. Respondents were largely anxious about the virus, with 88% expressing concern about catching COVID-19 and 80% worried about spreading COVID-19 to family members.

Respondents took this survey as cases were steadily decreasing in the United States, yet still between 20,000-25,000 new daily cases. Unfortunately, nearly 6 weeks later, fears about reopening have been validated, as outbreaks in many states cause national daily averages to skyrocket towards 40,000 per day. 

80% of respondents worry about spreading COVID-19 to family members when they go back to work, as they may be a vector for virus transmission. 

88% expressed some degree of concern about contracting COVID-19 in the coming months. Almost half of respondents said they did not feel safe reporting to their normal workstation. Only 34% said they felt safe returning to work, and 18% said they weren’t sure.

  

When asked their thoughts about states opening up, 36% said it was happening at the right time. 41% thought their states were opening too early, and 18% said their state was not opening soon enough. These respondents were sampled from a large Defense One readership spanning many states.

The number one concern among participants, cited by 57% of respondents, was the health of a family member. The next three most common concerns reflected personal safety issues and the mitigation of viral transmission: access to testing, physical health, and inadequate protective equipment. More than one in three worried about financial insecurity. 

76% of government employees report moderate to extreme impacts to operations, but many were hesitant to return to work, citing uncertainty about PPE and testing capabilities.

Federal employees, state and local government workers, and military respondents were asked questions about their organization’s response. 76% report at least moderate impact to their day-to-day work.

One in five government workers were still expected to report to their typical workstation. Another 20% still went to their office, but with less frequency, presumably on a rotational basis with other employees to limit the number of people in the space. Just three in five shifted to remote work. 

Government respondents who reported working from home or reported going to the office less frequently were asked about their organization’s reopening plans. 50% said they were not at all or only slightly confident that their organization would supply adequate PPE. 

The group who said they still report to the office were asked about their satisfaction with their organization’s efforts to keep employees protected from the virus. 64% expressed moderate to extreme satisfaction. One in five were not at all satisfied with their organization’s protection efforts. 

While employees were generally content with the Department of Defense’s (DoD) response, respondents did not applaud individual leaders with the same satisfaction. 

The response of the DoD itself was viewed positively by those in the government and related industries, with 50% approving and only 18% disapproving. President Trump was largely criticized, with 61% disapproval by the overall audience, most of whom strongly disapproved of his response to the pandemic. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper received equivocal marks, with 31% disapproving, 34% approving, and 35% neutral. 

The audience returned lukewarm responses on the helpfulness of the Pentagon’s COVID-19 guidance. The majority of participants said the Pentagon’s guidance was moderately helpful. One in five respondents said that it was very helpful; the same proportion called it slightly helpful.

When asked about President Trump’s handling of the pandemic, 49% responded that it made them feel much less safe. At the same time, 26% said his response made them feel safer. 

Disclaimer

This post is written by Government Business Council; it is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Government Executive Media Group's editorial staff. For more information, see our advertising guidelines.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.