A new survey suggests a large number of Canadians could be gearing up to break some COVID-19 restrictions during the spring break period.
British Columbia residents, meanwhile, are the most likely in Canada to admit they don’t follow all the rules all the time, the Insights West study claims.
Some of the reasons given by respondents for breaking rules were pandemic fatigue, a need to boost mental health and a commitment to keeping a small bubble of social contacts.
The research found that:
48% of national respondents said they follow the rules all the time
36% claimed they follow nearly all of the restrictions and rules nearly all of the time
7% said they follow the rules sometimes, rarely or never
34% of BC residents said they follow all the regulations all the time (Canada’s lowest)
63% of respondents said they were considering one of 11 spring break activities, including having friends over and going on vacation
“Early indications are that a significant number of Canadians are planning to bend the rules during spring break and beliefs around it being OK to bend those rules are likely the reason for the slow decline in the COVID-19 numbers,” said Steve Mossop, president of Insights West.
“What is interesting is the wide number of reasons Canadians give in justifying their rule-breaking behaviour. When it comes down to it, less than half of us are serious about following all of the rules, and that is problematic if we want to see a faster decline of the numbers”
Read the full study here.
