Over 90 per cent of Canadians say COVID-19 has changed their lives: survey
MONTREAL -- Social isolation, an inability to see family and friends, and lack of movement are some of the reasons Canadians and Americans gave for how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their lives in a new survey.
According to a poll from the Association for Canadian Studies (ACS), COVID-19 has changed four-in-10 Canadians' lives in a major way and almost all who responded said it changed their lives in some way.
According to the survey that polled 1,500 Canadians, 45 per cent of women and 35 per cent of men have had their lives changed "in a major way."
"A majority of the people who felt there was a major change indicated that it was attributable to the lack of interaction with family and friends, and varying degrees of isolation," said Jack Jedwab, the study's author.
Half of those surveyed said it had changed "a little bit."
Those born outside of Canada were most likely to say their lives had majorly changed (52 per cent) as opposed to 38 per cent of those born in Canada who answered the same way.
Just 10 per cent of respondents said their lives had "stayed the same."
British Columbians (49 per cent) and Ontarians (44 per cent) had the highest rate of "major change," while Alberta (26 per cent) and Quebec (36 per cent) had the lowest rate.
What has caused this "major change" in peoples lives?
Unsurprisingly, the survey found that isolation is the most important change for those who said their lives had changed in a major way.
Over a quarter (26 per cent) of respondents said "limited social interaction/lack of visitors at home/social isolation" was the cause of their lives changing.
Twenty-three per cent said not seeing family or friends was the most important reason for the change.
Of the 1,000 Americans surveyed, 36 per cent said their lives had changed in a major way and 48 per cent said it had changed "a little bit."
The most important change Americans cited was an inability to go out and lack of freedom of movement (16 per cent) followed by not being able to see family or friends (14 per cent).