The Dog Blog

Adapting to Phase Two restrictions… moving from social distancing to physical distancing

With the easing of restrictions as part of the State Government’s roadmap to recovery, this week we saw many of our favourite cafes, bars and restaurants open their doors back up to dine-in patrons.

When Mark McGowan announced that people in WA could gather in groups of up to 20, it signalled the start of our state getting back to work and hopefully a kick-start to the economy. According to our latest People’s Voice survey, seven in ten of us (71%) feel like the current approach to easing restrictions is appropriate. But two in ten (21%) worry we’re moving too fast and think we should be holding off longer before getting lax. Only 8% think we aren’t easing them fast enough.

While we are seeing more opportunities for us to interact and connect with each other socially, there is still the need for us to maintain a 1.5-metre gap while the coronavirus pandemic continues. This has led to the term ‘social distancing’ being rebranded as ‘physical distancing’ by the WA government.

But with dine-in options back on the table for local food joints and watering holes, there’s a number of provisions. One of them is that patrons are only allowed to order alcohol along with a substantial meal – and West Aussies are pretty split on how they feel about this.

Around half (47%) disagree with this decision and think they should be able to buy a drink without a meal, while the other half (53%) agree with McGowan’s call. Perhaps not surprisingly, it’s the 18-29 year-olds who are the most likely to think they should be allowed to order a drink without a meal. 58% of them think in fact, higher than all other age groups and the state average of 47%.

Let’s keep doing the right thing WA, we’ve all done such a great job so far! And of course, we’ll be in touch with new stats and figures to share with you in the coming weeks.

The People’s Voice was designed to help anyone – businesses and individuals – ask questions and understand the thoughts and feelings of West Australians.

People’s Voice gives you the chance to ask both current and potential customers what their attitudes and opinions are towards your brand or products and have the ability track these as we navigate through these unprecedented changes in our world.

To find out more information about it and how you can get involved, visit the People’s Voice website: https://painteddogresearch.com/peoplesvoice/