Most Canadians find it stressful to be in public during coronavirus

The web survey was conducted by polling firm Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, with 57 percent of respondents saying that leaving home to visit a public place caused anxiety, according to Global News.

While the figures remained somewhat consistent across the country, they peaked at 64 percent in Ontario and a low of 48 percent in Alberta.

To compare, 64 percent of American respondents said they found it somewhat or very stressful to venture into public in the midst of the pandemic.

The survey was conducted from May 8 to 11, which included 1,526 Canadians and 1,004 Americans, 18 and up, who were randomly recruited from an online panel.

Polls created from Internet panels are not random samples of individuals, and therefore are not assigned a margin of error.

The polling firm does say that using data from the 2016 census, results were weighted according to age, gender, mother tongue, region, level of education, and presence of children in the home in an effort to depict an authentic sample of the population.

The majority of Canadians who took part said they were following the social-distancing protocols put in place within their province, while also adequately washing their hands more often, coughing or sneezing into their elbow, and going out only when necessary.

Forty-two percent of Canadians said they wore a face mask when they ventured out of their home. And 41 percent said those not part of their family had gotten within two meters of them in the previous seven days.

The vigilance in having to maintain personal space in public is likely a major factor that contributes to the overall anxiety people feel, said Leger executive vice-president Christian Bourque.

“Every time I go out grocery shopping, which I do because it’s a necessity, somebody wants to pick the same avocados I’m looking at,” he said. “There’s always somebody in your bubble at some point, even though we try to do our best.”

When asked how long it would take for the economy in their province to start getting back to business as normal, with commercial activity and jobs being created at a level semblant of when the pandemic hit, 14 percent said about six to eight months from now, while 24 percent said about a year, and 30 percent said around two years.