Support for COVID-19 lockdowns dwindle as Omicron spreads across Canada: poll
Global News
Talks of further lockdowns comes as the country braces for what looks to be a another wave of COVID-19, driven by the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
A majority of Canadians say they’re still in support of another lockdown to stop the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, a new poll has found.
But despite more than 55 per cent of Canadians showing such support for renewed public health measures, the poll’s results — done by Ipsos exclusively for Global News — also show that the same support is dwindling.
Previous polling done by Ipsos showed that in July of 2021, nearly seven out of 10 Canadians said they would support more lockdown measures amid a fourth wave of the pandemic, which dropped to 63 per cent in September and now sits at just 56 per cent as an Omicron-driven wave begins to rise across the country.
Darrell Bricker, Ipsos’ CEO of public affairs, says that the dwindling number may be reflective of Canadians feeling not only frustrated over the repeated lockdowns, but also questioning if this is the right thing to be doing given the high vaccination rates Canada has.
Bricker says he’s noticed two things changing in public opinion that could also point to the lessening support they are now showing for lockdowns — people are less “overwhelmingly concerned” about COVID-19 than they previously were and that there’s more space opening up for the government to tackle other issues and concerns.
“We’re certainly seeing that in our polling, but also given the fact that we’ve had such an increase in vaccinations, I’m wondering if people think that they’re more protected maybe than they might actually be,” he said.
The new polling comes as public health units across the country brace for what looks to be a fifth wave of COVID-19, driven by the spread of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant.
Since first being identified in South Africa, Omicron has spread to over 77 countries, including Canada, according to the WHO.