Canadians are feeling less personally worried about COVID-19, but their stress levels have continued to rise, according to the eigth wave of Mindshare’s ongoing tracking of consumer attitudes during the pandemic.

When it comes to activities Canadians miss from before COVID-19, 34% said they miss physically going to stores and malls, compared to 29% who said the same in March.

With the rise of online shopping in the COVID-19 era, brought on by physical distancing protocols and fears of contracting the virus out in public, roughly 48% of Atlantic Canadians expect to do the same amount of “click and collect” grocery shopping in a post-COVID world as they’re doing now – compared to approximately 42% in Quebec, 40% in Ontario, 25% in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and 39% in B.C. and Alberta.

Canadians are also already planning to cut back on how much they anticipate participating in major retail events this year, with one in five respondents anticipate shopping for back to school this year, with Mindshare’s analysis estimating that 12 million Canadians won’t shop during Black Friday.

Other activities Canadians said they’ll be doing less in a post-COVID world include going to concerts (roughly 26% less likely to do so) as well as go to the movies (24% less likely) and travelling or taking public transportation (24% less likely).

The number of Canadians worried about COVID-19 has decreased since the earlier stages of the pandemic, down to 48%, compared to 61% near the beginning of the pandemic. Their stress levels, however, are going up, from 25% in March to 42% in May. Canadians are more stressed and overwhelmed than much of the rest of the world – ahead of the U.S., Italy, France and Singapore, but behind India, where 46% of respondents reported feeling stressed.

Gen Z are the loneliest generation of Canadians (according to 74% of those surveyed) and 33% are spending more time shopping online, 30% are spending more time being outdoors and 18% are spending more time using social media. For millennials, 41% are spending more time outdoors and 15% are spending more time on social media, while 30% of Gen X are getting outside more.