More Than Half Of Ontarians Think It's Time To End COVID-19 Restrictions
Data was gathered in late January, following the Omicron spike.
With Canada experiencing its fifth wave of COVID-19 and many lockdowns, Ontarians are expressing their need to get back to the life they once lived before.
A recent study by the Angus Reid Institute showed that 54% of Ontarians agree that it's time to end COVID-19 restrictions and believe people who feel at risk should self-isolate.
As for the older Canadian population, well, the study also showed that the majority of participants who identified as male and older than 55 years old agreed to end restrictions. But, at the same time, female respondents in the same age group disagreed.
Lockdowns have been reintroduced to Canadians multiple times since the start of the pandemic, but now that COVID-19 has been around for a while, it seems opinions have changed quite a bit.
Results from this poll increased 15 points from when the participants were first asked about ending restrictions at the beginning of January. The final poll showed that a majority vote of over 50% of all Canadians wants to put an end to COVID-19 restrictions.
According to the study, 22% of Ontario households had at least one case of COVID-19 since December 1.
On a Canada-wide scale, 1 in 5 households had at least one positive test result. But, 52% of those cases experienced "relatively mild – just minor symptoms" while 47% said, "serious but manageable - like a case of the flu."
The study was conducted online from January 27 to 28 with a random sample of 1,688 Canadian adults.
Meanwhile, Medical Officer of Health for the City of Toronto, Dr. Eileen de Villa told reporters that a "COVID zero strategy" no longer makes sense and that "we are likely to find ourselves in a situation where we are learning how to live with COVID."
January 31 marks the first day of Ontario's reopening plan, and the Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore told Newstalk 580 CFRA’s The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll that he is "starting to have much more hope."
“The number of cases is decelerating instead of accelerating in terms of hospitalizations and ICUs,” he adds.
Health Canada has a robust website with all the latest information on COVID-19 vaccines and can answer any questions you may have.