WOMEN ARE TAKING THE COVID-19 CRISIS A LOT MORE SERIOUSLY THAN MEN ARE, A NEW POLL HAS FOUND. THE SURVEY SHOWS 49% OF WOMEN ARE VERY WORRIED ABOUT THE OUTBREAK. AND THE FELLAS? ONLY 30%.

Women are taking the COVID-19 outbreak a lot more seriously than men are, a new poll has found.

The survey from Abacus Data shows 49 per cent of women are very worried about the outbreak, along with 26 per cent who are somewhat worried, while 30 per cent of men are very worried and 33 per cent are somewhat worried.

Thirty-seven per cent of men are either a little or not

THAT 30 TO 44 GROUP ACROSS THE BOARD, WHETHER MEN OR FEMALE, ARE THE MOST WORRIED ABOUT THIS.

all worried about the outbreak, compared to 25 per cent of women.

“Having done a little bit of research myself, looking at gender differences when it comes to risk perception, there’s a fairly clear literature that says that men are just less likely to perceive risk as acutely as women,” said David Coletto, the CEO of Abacus Data, in an interview on Monday.

Men are also less likely to follow the advice being offered by health officials to help mitigate the effects of the pandemic, the poll shows.

“Men are much less likely to be worrying, but they’re also less likely to be staying home, not going out and not interacting with other people — basically not doing social distancing — than women,” said Coletto.

And as a battle wages online between baby boomers and young people over who is the most intransigent about obeying public health advice, the results of the Abacus poll show there’s plenty of blame to go around.

The worst culprits are young men and older men, while men aged 30 to 44 years old seem to be taking the virus more seriously.

Forty per cent of men aged 30 to 44 years old are very worried about the virus, which is double the number of men aged 18 to 29 years old who feel the same way.

“That 30 to 44 group across the board, whether men or female, are the most worried about this. So I think it is partly a parental driver,” said Coletto. “I think that parental instinct in young dads, it reflects that huge gap between those two younger cohorts.”

The Abacus Data poll shows that among Canadians, about 31 per cent are not worried or only a little bit worried about the COVID-19 outbreak.

The poll was conducted between March 20-22 and reached 1,378 Canadians. It has a margin of error of 2.7 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Coletto said he is concerned about the large groups of people who seem unconcerned by the outbreak and the anecdotal evidence online of people still holding parties and gathering in groups.

“We can’t assume that these messages from public health agencies are actually getting through to everybody,” said Coletto. “It’s hard to persuade people until you’re personally affected by it. And by then it’s too late.”