• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, May 18, 2020

Consumption of online news articles rose significantly worldwide in the past few months, specifically queries related to coronavirus symptoms and recent updates. In the U.S., queries rose 425%, 327% in the UK and 321% in France between February 23 and March 9, according to recent CodeFuel data.

While COVID-19 stay-at-home orders have impacted all industries in the past few months, the search term “coronavirus exit phase” continues to rise, up 232% by May 15.

Searches analyzed by CodeFuel range from questions about school openings to flight schedules, offering insights into apprehensions and anticipations as people attempt to resume a life outside their homes.

Data fluctuations for search terms run the gambit across retail and ecommerce sites, along with search data on engines like Bing and Google. The numbers analyze the new “normal” as governments worldwide begin to allow commerce, hospitality, restaurants, and other markets to reopen in physical locations.

Much of the data suggests consumers are ready to resume their lives, but how much of their lives include shopping in stores, eating in restaurants, and traveling on planes?

Searches for leisure-time activities rose 44%, 70% for fitness equipment, and 19% for searches related to hobbies, arts and crafts, according to the data pulled between March and April in 2020, compared with a year ago.

The shift to remote-first work environment has generated a high demand for software, security and productivity tools, and, of course, video conference tools. Increase in searches rose 87% for antivirus, an 520% for video conferencing and online software tools from Jan 1, 2020-May 5, 2020.

Top search terms include “back to school after coronavirus,” “back to work after covid-19,” “going back to work,” “flights after covid-19,” “face-masks at work,” “academic year covid-19,” “how long will restaurants be closed,” and “public transportation after covid-19.”