This picture was taken March 13, 2020 but is not typical of what we see today. Still, more than 10 per cent of Canadians in a recent survey said they are not practicing social distancing.
Image Credit: FACEBOOK / Ashley Dawn
March 30, 2020 - 7:30 PM
A recent Angus Reid poll found that 12 per cent of those surveyed answered yes to the question: “The threat of a coronavirus outbreak is Canada has been overblown.”
The other 88 per cent felt there was a serious risk of such an outbreak.
The data is somewhat dated since most of the poll was conducted between March 20 and 23 with 1,664 Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. Another 207 were surveyed March 25-26 but the results were not separated for each group.
Findings in the survey was broken down by the 385 who were skeptical about an outbreak vs those who took the risk more seriously.
BELIEVERS
Of the 88 per cent of those surveyed who believe there will be a serious outbreak, 92 per cent say it will last for more than a month or two.
And, while they’re working hard on taking precautions, they are far from perfect.
In fact, only 72 per cent are taking all four measures with 92 per cent washing their hand more often, 89 per cent practicing social distancing, 87 per cent not shaking hands or hugging and 84 per cent are staying away from public spaces.
And, in this group, it’s the older women (over 35) who are more likely to see the risk as serious.
SKEPTICS
Males were more likely to be skeptical than females with 23 per cent of that group being 55 and older and 22 per cent of the total being males aged 35 to 54.
Only 37 per cent were taking all four precautions recommended for stopping the outbreak.
Seventy-two per cent were washing their hands more frequently, 66 per cent were keeping greater personal space, not shaking hands or hugging while 60 per cent were staying away from public spaces.
The margin of error for the survey is +/- 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
The full survey can be viewed here.
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