Most Canadians Foresee “Back to Normal” by Mid-August or Later

More than seven-in-ten (73%) would take a vaccine against COVID-19 if it ultimately becomes available.

Vancouver, BC [April 21, 2020] – A majority of Canadians are not anticipating a return to the routines they had before the COVID-19 outbreak in the early weeks of the summer, a new Research Co. poll has found.  

In the online survey of a representative national sample, 54% of Canadians expect things in their city or town to go back to the way they were before the outbreak three months from now (16%) or four months from now or longer (38%).  

Only 18% of Canadians expect a return to normal life within the next month (6%) or a month from now (12%), while 31% believe their daily routines will come back two months from now (15%) or three months from now (16%).  

“Across the country, residents of Quebec (55%) and Ontario (54%) are more hopeful of a return to normalcy early in the summer,” says Mario Canseco, President of Research Co. “Residents of Atlantic Canada and the western provinces are decidedly more skeptical.”  

More than seven-in-ten Canadians (73%) say they would “definitely” or “probably” take a vaccine against COVID-19 if it ultimately becomes available—including 78% of men, 76% of those aged 18-to-34 and 79% of those in Atlantic Canada.  

When asked about their personal experience during the COVID-19 outbreak, almost half of Canadians (47%) say they are cleaning the groceries they buy to prevent infection and two-in-five (40%) say they are not ordering food from restaurants at all because they fear infection.  

About one-in-seven Canadians (14%) acknowledge wearing a mask every time they go out, including 19% of residents of Ontario and British Columbia and 22% of those aged 18-to-34.  

Three-in-ten Canadians (29%) admit to overeating at home, while smaller proportions acknowledge losing their temper more than usual (18%) and drinking more alcohol (13%).  

Practically two thirds of Canadians (65%) expect most people to maintain their current precautions on hygiene after the COVID-19 outbreak ends. The same proportion (65%) foresee most companies keeping their current hygiene precautions as well.  

One-in-five Canadians (21%) expect more people to consider adopting vegetarian or vegan diets after the COVID-19 outbreak ends—a proportion that rises to 26% in British Columbia.

Methodology:

Results are based on an online study conducted from April 13 to April 15, 2020, among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error—which measures sample variability—is +/- 3.1 percentage points, nineteen times out of twenty.
 
Find our full dataset here and download the press release here.
 
For more information on this poll, please contact:

Mario Canseco, President, Research Co.
778.929.0490
[e] mario.canseco@researchco.ca