Coronavirus: 20% of Manitobans plan to visit family, friends this holiday season

Despite high anxiety around COVID-19, 20 per cent of Manitobans say that they still plan to visit friends and family this holiday season.

A new poll by the Angus Reid Institute and Cardus says five per cent of Manitobans also plan on heading outside of the province or to their home community for holiday gatherings.

The poll also shows that one in five Manitobans aren’t afraid of their friends, family or community members getting sick from the novel coronavirus.

Some other numbers from the survey:

• 55 per cent of Manitobans say they have been laid off/lost hours at work, taken a financial loss, or both
• Manitobans are divided over how well Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is handling the pandemic, with 47 per cent saying he’s doing a good job, and 49 per cent say he is doing a bad job
• As for Premier Brian Pallister, 32 per cent say he is doing a good job, while 65 per cent say he isn’t
• 66 per cent approve of Manitoba’ Chief Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Brent Roussin’s handling of the coronavirus
• Front line health care workers handling the coronavirus outbreak have a 93 per cent approval rating
• 43 per cent of Manitobans feel if they got sick from COVID-19, they could manage the illness
• 75 per cent of Manitobans think the worst is yet to come

Across Canada, the numbers show that “while most are choosing a more solitary rather than merry Christmas, a significant segment still plan to visit people outside their household, either locally or out of province,” the non-profit organization said.

Read some of the data here:

“Three-in-10 say they will be visiting with friends and family outside of their households locally. This includes 35 per cent in both Alberta and Quebec, where daily numbers of new COVID-19 infections are regularly setting records.

“Potentially even more troubling, one-in-10 Canadians … are still planning to travel outside of their communities for the holidays.”

The survey was conducted online from Nov. 24-30, 2020, among a representative randomized sample of 5,003 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum. The survey carries a margin of error of +/-1.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding. The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by Angus Reid Institute.