A new survey found that 49% of Canadians agree with the Canadian border being closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey was conducted by Leger Marketing on behalf of the Association for Canadian studies on March 17, 2020.
“On Friday and Monday in response to the Corona Virus/Covid 19 several exceptional measures were introduced by the government of Canada, amongst them restrictions on international travel and expanded border closings. Other measures that promote various types of distancing as the situation evolves. The spectrum/range of concerns and anxiety on the part of Canadians is likely to rise,” claimed the report.
The poll sampled 1479 Canadians for their opinions on border closures and social attitudes with regards to the coronavirus.
Women were more likely to support border closures, with 52% of them either agreeing strongly or somewhat with the decision, whereas only 46% of men were in support.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a travel ban for non-citizens, with the exception of US citizens. Both the US and Canada also mutually agreed to close their nearly 9,000 KM border for non-essential travel.
The poll also asked Canadians about their attitudes towards social distancing, and in particular, coming into contact with people from regions heavily hit by the virus.
A majority of Canadians were not worried about coming into contact with people from Asia and Iran. A total of 66% of people nation-wide said they were either not very worried or not worried at all about interacting with people from those regions.
In total, only 32% of Canadians expressed some or a lot of worry about interacting with others from those areas.
When broken down provincially, Quebec and British Columbia showed the highest levels of concerns about being in contact with people from Asia and Iran.
39% of Quebeckers and British Columbians were either very worried or somewhat worried about interactions with those groups.
