As kids in Ontario get ready to return to in person learning on Monday, a new poll is now shedding light on how parents feel about sending their children back to school as Omicron cases continue to rise. Some new data from the non-profit angus reed institute reveals more than half of Canadians expect to contract Covid-19，regardless of the precaution state they take. For parents with young children in school, that concern is even higher.
The poll also explores how Canadians feel about public health restrictions across the country.
Regard to the findings on this issue, Shachi Kurl with Angus Reid Institute tells CP24:
“Well, that’s exactly it. Over the course of a two year pandemic, and we’ve been tracking this data basically since the spring of 2020. We know that people have generally had some level of knowledge that seven degrees of separation, four degrees of separation around who they know has Omicron. Someone at work, someone on a sports team, someone from the gym or from another aspect of their lives. But anecdotally, I think we’re all hearing these days about close friends, family members. It seems to be with everyone right now, and so it does not really surprise me that just over half of canadians say, look, no matter what we do in terms of masking, in terms of precautions, in terms of restrictions. This variant is so infectious. It’s just going to to go faster than we can go. We’re not going to be able to run it.”
“So you’ve got a bit of fatigue, you’ve got a bit of resignation, and really people throwing their hands up in, in a sense. And just saying, well, it’s probably better if it’s a milder case. It’s better for boosted. It’s better if we can avoid it. But we don’t think we can avoid it at this stage.”
When talks about safety in school, Shachi Kurl says:
“I think reflective of the fact that we understand that young children are the ones who are most likely to be carrying this diseases and spreading it, this virus and spreading it right now.”
“It’s interesting, because in ontario, you do see the most parents saying they want to make sure that the spread of COVID-19 in schools is reduced, but also want to make sure that children get as much of their academic development, mental health and continued development as possible.”
“Parents in Ontario are a little bit more concerned about that Covid spread than they are in other provinces. But in either case, parents across the country are saying, look, both things are important. But if we have to lean one way, we are definitely leaning more to the side of keeping schools open. People have been at this for two years.”
“Look, both are important, but really, let’s please just get the kids back to school.”
Resource: CP24