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Dining out, traveling abroad and shopping at the mall — your views on COVID-19 likely inform your willingness to do these activities in the near future.
Families are already planning an active summer, especially for their kids, according to survey data from polling firm Ipsos
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The vast majority of parents (84%) are planning to take their kids to visit friends or family in the warmer months. The findings were made through the Ipsos Consumer COVID tracker, a weekly tracker survey gauging consumers’ attitudes regarding topics related to the coronavirus pandemic.
But what activities Americans choose to engage in will come down to their perspective on how much of a risk COVID-19 represents. Unsurprisingly, Americans who view COVID as a low threat say they are far more likely to engage in certain behaviors this summer than people who think the opposite about the disease.
“Americans are looking forward to getting out more this summer than they did in summer 2020, but fear of COVID still conditions what they are planning to do,” Ipsos data journalists Sarah Feldman and Catherine Morris wrote in the report.
The difference in willingness to engage in certain activities can be quite significant. For instance, 88% of people who think COVID is a low threat plan to dine out at a restaurant this summer, compared with 65% of those who feel it’s a high threat.
Similarly large difference exist with people’s preferences toward attending outdoor events, visiting a shopping mall and going on a road trip.
“Americans who are least likely to see COVID as a threat to themselves are most likely to say they plan to do these activities, suggesting that broader concerns about the virus are still making some Americans hesitant about fully reengaging,” Feldman and Morris wrote.
People who viewed COVID as a high threat were actually more inclined to do some activities than people who are less worried about the pandemic. Americans who told Ipsos that they think COVID poses a significant risk were more likely to be planning trips by plane, cruise vacations and to attend indoor concerts and live sporting events.
