CAUTIOUS APPROACH FAVOURED
Canadians want progress in virus fight before returning to work //
OTTAWA —Most Canadians want to see significant progress in the fight against COVID-19 before they would feel comfortable with people being allowed to return to work, a new poll suggests.
The poll says 29 per cent of Canadians believe restrictions on workplace and leisure activities should only be lifted once the country is free of any new cases for at least two weeks.
One-quarter of respondents said they would want to see only sporadic cases being discovered before such restrictions are lifted, and assurance there is no pressure on the health system. Just over 20 per cent think Canadians should continue to physically isolate and stay away from work until there is a vaccine to protect against the virus.
The poll, conducted by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies between April 9 and 12, surveyed 1,508 adult Canadians and 1,012 adult Americans randomly recruited from its online panel. The internetbased survey cannot be assigned a margin of error because online polls are not considered random samples.
“We wanted to look at that aspect because we’re now in that phase where people are starting to reconsider when are we going back to normal,” said Christian Bourque, executive vice-president of Leger.
“They seem to be favouring the mid-to-long term more than the short term,” he said.
Recently released federal projections show that it could be midsummer, or even late summer, before the first wave of Canada’s epidemic is over, and that is the best-case scenario.
As for a vaccine, that is likely still many months away.
Canadians seem highly dedicated to obeying the rules set out by public health, as 98 per cent of the poll respondents said they abide by social distancing.
Until current restrictions are lifted, 40 per cent say they would report someone who is not obeying public health rules, with the largest number of would-be snitches in the Atlantic provinces, at 50 per cent, and Quebec, at 48 per cent.
“It’s as if Canadians are saying, not that we’re comfortable ... but that we feel it’s the right thing for now and maybe a few weeks more,” Bourque said.
Those results show a serious departure from Canada’s neighbours to the south, where 46 per cent say they would not report rule-breakers to the authorities.
The United States has become the new worldwide epicentre of the COVID-19 outbreak, and has now reported more deaths than any other country.
But attitudes there about physical distancing and public health measures appear more lax than in Canada, according to the poll results.
Pollsters offered a list of public health measures, including staying two metres away from others, and only going out for necessities. They found the rate of non-compliance with at least one of those measures in the U.S. was 46 per cent, compared to 26 per cent in Canada.