THE FIRST CONFIRMED case of Covid-19 in Ireland was announced 29 February. 

Two weeks later, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar announced a range of measures designed to flatten the curve of the disease, including the shuttering of schools and requesting those who could work from home to do so.

Two months later, we are still living with restrictions on our movements. In that time, we have all been exposed to wall-to-wall news coverage of the outbreak.

Psychologists at University College Dublin and University College Cork want to know what affect this has had on the population. 

Which news stories have impacted you the most? And in what way? How has media coverage of public health messaging influenced your behaviour? Researchers conducting a study on the topic want participants for an anonymous online survey. They want people to think back to selected key news stories since the outbreak began and will ask about how views of these events have changed. The survey also asks about views on the coronavirus crisis. Participants will also be asked to complete some simple vocabulary and reasoning tests.

It is being led by Associate Professor Ciara Greene of the School of Psychology, University College Dublin and Dr Gillian Murphy at the School of Applied Psychology, in University College Cork.