Social isolation is one of the negative consequences of a pandemic like\nCOVID-19. Social isolation and loneliness are not only experienced by older\nadults, but also by younger people who live alone and cannot communicate with\nothers or get involved in social situations as they used to. In such\nsituations, social companion robots might have the potential to reduce social\nisolation and increase well-being. However, society's perception of social\nrobots has not always been positive. In this paper, we conducted two online\nexperiments with 102 and 132 participants during the self isolation periods of\nCOVID-19 (May-June 2020 and January 2021), to study how COVID-19 has affected\npeople's perception of the benefits of a social robot. Our results showed that\na change caused by COVID-19, as well as having an older relative who lived\nalone or at a care center during the pandemic significantly and positively\naffected people's perception of social robots, as companions, and that the\nfeeling of loneliness can drive the purchase of a social robot. The second\nstudy replicated the results of the first study. We also discuss the effects of\nBig 5 personality traits on the likelihood to purchase a social robot, as well\nas on participants' general attitude towards COVID-19 and adapting to the\npandemic.\n