The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is still convincing Canadians to play it safe when it comes to what the country should do in the fall if there’s a second wave.
Most Canadians are still exceedingly cautious when it comes to the COVID-19 pandemic — in favour of mandatory mask laws, concerned about their personal susceptibility to the virus, willing to lock the country down again if cases spike and leaning toward a mix of in-class and at-home learning for children in the fall.
This might come as a surprise to many.
New cases of COVID-19 have fallen significantly in Canada, though there has been a small uptick in recent days in some parts of the country. With the virus raging unchecked in the United States, governments on this side of the border have been loosening restrictions. In Ontario, most of the province entered Stage 3 today, which allows most businesses to re-open with health measures in place.
Many have expressed alarm over crowded parks and beaches. An outbreak in cases related to bars in Quebec has resulted in ‘last call’ being moved up earlier to midnight, and a prohibition on dancing.
It might give the impression that Canadians are letting their guards down. But polls don’t suggest that’s the case.
Both Léger (in a poll for the Association for Canadian Studies) and the Angus Reid Institute have found that 59 per cent of Canadians reported being concerned about or afraid of personally contracting COVID-19. That’s the highest level since April, when Canada was at the peak of its first wave.
Reports of people unwilling to wear masks are widespread — but they represent a minority view. Léger found that two-thirds of Canadians think governments should make wearing masks mandatory in all indoor public spaces. Cities like Ottawa and Toronto already have imposed such mask rules, and masks become mandatory in indoor public spaces throughout Quebec on Saturday.
Despite concerns expressed by some business groups about their impact on the local economy, an Ipsos/Global News poll found that 79 per cent of Canadians strongly or somewhat support local municipalities imposing mandatory mask-wearing rules. According to an Abacus Data poll, 86 per cent of respondents would support — or at least “go along with” — mandatory mask orders.
Support for new lockdown in a second wave
With new cases surging in places like the United States, Brazil and India — and as other countries, such as Israel, are experiencing second waves of the virus that are bigger than the first ones — polls show the vast majority of Canadians expect to see a second wave in this country in the future.
Such a second wave could hit the Canadian economy very hard due to people staying home and spending less — even if governments don’t impose a second lockdown.
This has led to calls for governments to avoid imposing a second lockdown. Last week, a number of health experts signed an open letter calling on the federal and provincial governments to take a “balanced response” to fighting the pandemic, while the Business Council of Canada put out a statement after the federal government’s recent fiscal update making the case that “Canadians simply cannot afford another shutdown.”
