Despite COVID surge, less Canadians want public health measures

With COVID cases seeing a summer surge, Canadians don’t want public health measures like vaccine passports and masking mandates making a return.

A study from the Angus Reid Institute found that many Canadians still worry about the risk of the virus on their own and their family’s health. Still, their want for government public health measures is minimal.

Three-quarters of Canadians (74%) said that they believe that masking is effective in reducing the spread of COVID, but just over half say that they would support mandating it in public spaces (51%).

That number is down from 72 per cent in February of this year.

Last September, during the fourth pandemic wave, seven-in-ten Canadians said they would support a vaccine passport in their community to require residents to show proof of vaccination to enter public spaces. That number is now down to one-in-four.

In Saskatchewan, 38 per cent of residents want to see masking mandates brought back, 17 per cent want to see vaccine passports brought back, with 50 per cent say they want to see no action taken.

Those numbers are down from 66 per cent and 51 per cent in February 2022.

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