Variations observed in participants’ emotional reactions to COVID-19 (students and staff) and their level of concern about COVID-19 appeared to be related directly to their personal experiences. Anxiety and fear were much more pronounced in those reporting greater personal exposure to the negative impacts of COVID-19 than those who had no prior experience of the virus or its impacts. For example, interviewees were seemingly more anxious and concerned if they had received a positive test result, had (or knew someone who had) self-isolated during the pandemic, had an underlying health condition that increased health risk, or knew someone who had become seriously ill due to COVID-19: “one of my friends was on a ventilator for ten weeks because of… being affected by COVID, he was a nurse working with elderly people so that was quite a scary experience” (P126, female, staff, academic).