With the holiday season behind them, Canadians reduced their indoor visits with friends and family by a third and reduced non-essential shopping.
Today Innovative Research Group Inc. (INNOVATIVE) released results from a new online survey of 2,191 Canadians conducted from January 7th to 19th, 2021.
The good news is that reported levels of the riskiest behaviours – attending large gatherings or small group gatherings in homes – are now at the lowest levels we have recorded since March. Moderate risk behaviours – visiting or hosting a friend or relative in homes – are down a third from late December and are at the lowest point in the second wave but still roughly 6 points higher than the Spring.
When we group Canadians by their behaviour, we find two thirds of all Canadians are either going out rarely with full precautions (52%) or just staying home (12%). Another third are going out more frequently but always taking precautions. Only 1 in 8 Canadians are either heading out several times a week with limited precautions (7%) or are very active with minimal to no precautions (5%). As before, younger men dominate these riskier groups.
The bad news is that Canadians are no more likely to take precautions in their social contacts. Consistent mask wearing is down slightly from December while social distancing and hand-washing are 8 to 12 points below the Spring peak.
For more details, click here for the full report.
