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Dating app OkCupid has predicted that August 1st will be the most popular day to schedule a date in 2021, thanks to the rollout of the vaccines for COVID-19 in the U.K.

According to Mashable, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged that all adults will be vaccinated by July 31st, and in response, OkCupid projected that there will be a huge spike in people getting together the next day. Singles have felt especially isolated this past year, with virtual dating becoming the preferred option over meeting someone in person. But the rollout of the vaccine seems to be changing attitudes and comfort levels among the dating app’s users.

This projection is assuming that the vaccine rollout goes smoothly and there will be enough doses in the country, which might not be the case, Mashable warned. To date, almost 18 million people had received their first dose of vaccine and about 620,000 had received their second. These numbers met the government’s target for mid-February, with 15 million people now vaccinated in the U.K.

Image: okcupid

A new study by dating app OkCupid found that politics and the pandemic are the two biggest forces shaping the dating experience, giving us a clue about what dating will look like in 2021.

The company surveyed two million of its users to find out how 2020 is shaping their view of dating, and what if anything has changed. According to Mashable, OkCupid published its Future of Dating report based on its analysis of 450 million responses they received from these users. The biggest impact on dating has been political engagement and polarization – notably in an important election year. A majority of 64% of respondents said they preferred to date someone who shared their political views, up from previous years when politics did not play such a major factor in deciding whether or not to date someone. In fact, this number jumped 7% since 2019, and 60% of respondents said they wouldn’t even consider dating someone with opposing political views.

A new study found that people who suffer from anxiety and depression, especially now during the pandemic, benefit from using dating apps – and those helped were mainly women.

According to Scientific Times, researchers from Ryerson University in Canada analyzed symptoms of social anxiety and “the use, motivation, and interaction associated with dating apps.” 

The researchers found that as lockdowns took place and people were physically isolated from one another, women turned to dating apps to feel connection and ease symptoms like depression. Many singles have felt increasingly disconnected during the pandemic, with some looking to dating apps for a quick quarantine partner as an alternative to being alone.

Dating site eHarmony has found that quarantine helped solidify new relationships at an accelerated speed as people partnered and navigated lockdown together. The company also found that it helped long-term couples feel more connected, too. 

Relate, a non-profit that provides mental health and counseling services, worked with eHarmony to gather the data. According to Good Housekeeping, they found that 63% of respondents say their relationship feels stronger after quarantining together, and 58% say they know they want to be with their partner forever.

We’ve all seen a rom-com meet-cute. A soon-to-be couple accidentally touches hands while reaching for the same item at a grocery store. Or ends up covered in coffee when one person literally runs into the other on their walk into work. Or gets into an argument during a minor case of road rage. The best meet-cutes in movies happen under dubious circumstances, often at the most awkward or embarrassing moments of the characters lives.

In real life, most of us would prefer to meet our future partners under better conditions, and thanks to online dating, these love-at-first-site meetings are becoming a thing of the past. According to an article published by Stanford University in 2019, matchmaking is now done primarily by algorithms. Today’s heterosexual singles are more likely to meet a romantic partner online than through personal connections. But is that actually what we want?

What do singles value most in potential partners? Is it humor? Generosity? Confidence? Intelligence? eHarmony’s inaugural Singles & Desirability Study, conducted in April 2019 by Harris Interactive, takes a deep dive into what Americans really want out of their dating lives.

The study found that both men and women want a partner who is kind, funny and honest. More than half of all singles said honesty is the most important attribute to consider when deciding who to date. Kindness (44%) and a sense of humor (34%) were named the second and third most desirable traits, respectively. While men were two times more likely than women to prioritize physical attraction, attractiveness ranked fourth overall.