Canadian attitudes toward pandemic increasingly bleak
OTTAWA — Canadians’ views toward the COVID-19 pandemic have turned bleak in recent months amid the third wave, with a majority of respondents in a new poll believing things will continue to get worse before they get better.
The survey, by Maru Public Opinion, reinforces the heavy toll COVID-19 has taken on the Canadian public, as provinces continue to level strict lockdowns more than a year into the pandemic. It also provides a detailed timeline of when people expect their lives to return to normal, underscoring a deep hesitancy among many to return to regular pre-pandemic activities, like traveling by airplane or eating birthday cake after someone else has blown out the candles.
Of the 1,521 people surveyed, 66 per cent said they somewhat agree or strongly agree that “things will get worse before they get better,” the highest level since January, and among the most despondent results recorded by Maru since the beginning of the pandemic.
Fifty-seven per cent of people held negative feelings toward Canada’s current circumstances battling the pandemic, with most respondents feeling “frustrated,” “isolated,” or “anxious.”
John Wright, executive vice-president at Maru Public Opinion, said the dreary attitudes come as Canada’s vaccination effort remains roughly on schedule, but still behind many allied nations, where pandemic outlooks are rosier.
“People are rightfully gloomy,” Wright said in an interview. “Things are not going well here.”
Positive feelings in Canada have waned at the same time that attitudes in the U.S. have improved, Maru data suggest. The total number of respondents with “positive” outlooks for the pandemic fell to 43 per cent in Canada in April, down from 45 per cent in March. Positive feelings in the U.S. increased from 54 per cent to 55 per cent over the same period.
The survey also asked respondents to lay out their expectations for when they might be willing to partake in a range of typical pre-pandemic activities.
Asked when people might be comfortable to eat at a buffet-style restaurant, 24 per cent said they would only do so in 2023 or later, while 37 per cent said they would do so sometime in 2022. Twelve per cent said they would do so now.
Asked when they might be willing to ride in an airplane, 24 per cent said they would wait until 2023, while 39 per cent said it would take until 2022. Twenty-three per cent of people, meanwhile, will hold off until 2023 or later before they “stop routinely wearing a face covering,” while 38 per cent said they would wait until 2022. Another 33 per cent said they would wait until 2022 before eating a birthday cake after someone else has blown out the candles.
Wright said the public’s willingness to re-engage in various activities is likely to shift as lockdowns are eased, and that sentiments are largely tied to vaccination rates.
He said the results also point to a desire on the part of the public to map out when their lives might return to normal, compared with a Canadian government that has so far neglected to lay out clearly defined expectations for when and how restrictions might be lifted.
“The public is actually thinking ahead, and the government and others should be doing the same,” Wright said. “It’s not always about the trench warfare of today.”
Even so, a return to normal appears some way off. Among respondents, 50 per cent agreed that they would wait until at least the end of August 2021 before returning to a shared office space. The same proportion said it would wait until September to ride a bus or subway, or until February 2022 to attend a business conference.
Seventy-five per cent of respondents agreed that they would wait until at least September 2022 before attending a sporting event or watching a movie in the theatre.
“COVID-19 is here to stay,” Wright said. “It shows the incredible challenge that government leaders and industry and communities have with managing expectations.”
Many people reported mental health struggles or strained relations with loved ones. Among respondents, 48 per cent reported a negative impact on their mental health since the beginning of the pandemic, compared with four per cent positive. The remaining 48 per cent reported no impact.
Others reported declines in physical health, relations with their spouses, sex life, or relations with their children, with negative impacts outweighing positive in all categories.
“We have a reckoning that’s coming from this,” Wright said. “People are scarred, some more than others.”
Negative feelings toward the pandemic were highest in Alberta at 61 per cent, and lowest in Atlantic Canada at 52 per cent. Women generally felt more dismal than men at 58 per cent negative, compared with 52 per cent.
People in the lowest income bracket, as well as single people, reported a much higher likelihood to feel negatively about the pandemic.