Pandemic divisions expected to linger in Manitoba: poll

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This article was published 27/03/2022 (1483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“Friendly Manitoba” took a punch during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new poll has found.

Almost nine in 10 Manitobans believe the public fractures created during the lengthy health-care crisis will be long-lasting, says a Free Press/Probe Research survey.

When asked if they believe the divisions caused by the pandemic will last for a “very long time,” 87 per cent of respondents either strongly or somewhat agreed; only 13 per cent somewhat or strongly disagreed.

Mara Fridell, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Manitoba, said the lines are drawn, whether it is about masks, vaccinations or political party support.

“It has been a really strange two years, and a lot of people have really strong feelings about pandemic policy,” Fridell said. “It can create division and feelings of alienation.”

However, Fridell said those divisions will be overcome by time — and even with nicer weather.

“I believe things will turn around faster than you think,” she said. “It is dissipating now slowly… and as we get to nicer weather, it will help bring people together. It always does… Across families and in public, we’ll see a lot more convergence than the pessimistic poll says.”

Curtis Brown, a principal with Probe Research, was not so sure. It’s not common to see such high agreement on one question, no matter which side of the restriction equation or political party support people fall into, he said.

“No matter what your perception of COVID, whether you’re against masks and restrictions or in favour of doing that, no matter what side of the divide, everyone believes these divisions will endure,” Brown said.

Among them: while 74 per cent of NDP supporters believe the government moved too fast in lifting public health restrictions, only 14 per cent of Tory supporters say the same. Liberal supporters were at 53 per cent.

“On a lot of issues there will be some difference, but with this there is a chasm between NDP and PC supporters,” Brown said. “The partisan difference is stark.”

The poll also found the faith Manitobans have in government being able to deal with major challenges has been shaken, with three-quarters saying it is ill-equipped to deal with such crises.

Manitobans are also split on whether things will return to what they were prior to the pandemic, with 46 per cent saying they will and 53 per cent believing they won’t.

More Manitobans say they have personally been sickened with the novel coronavirus, with 38 per cent saying they either had it or believed they had it but weren’t tested, compared to 29 per cent in a poll two months ago.

While one in five strongly agree public health restrictions will be part of life for the foreseeable future, that number is down from 39 per cent in January, and 45 per cent in October 2021.

Almost one-half of Manitobans believe the government was too quick to lift public health restrictions, one-quarter said the reopening was at the right speed, while a further one in five said it isn’t happening quickly enough.

On the use of masks — one of the last of the main restrictions lifted in recent weeks — more than six in 10 say they will continue to wear one even if it is no longer required; 10 per cent say it will depend on the location or venue they are going to.

Meantime, epidemiologist Cynthia Carr said there is still a need for people to take precautions.

“Clearly, we understand Omicron and its variant BA.2 continue to be highly infectious, but they are clinically mild for most people,” Carr said.

“My concern, with the removal of restrictions, we’ve seen quite a stall and slow down in people getting the (vaccine) booster. When restrictions come off people don’t come forward because they feel it isn’t important anymore — that is a concern.”

In one of the sectors of the economy hit particularly hard by restrictions, patrons are returning faster than expected, said Shaun Jeffrey, CEO and executive director of the Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association.

“The business influx has been pretty good,” Jeffrey said Friday. “A lot of restaurants say they are back to pre-pandemic levels — but the challenging part is getting the staff to service them.”

Jeffrey said the positive news was exemplified by the recent St. Patrick’s Day: “Some operators said they broke sales records and had the busiest (March 17) they had ever had.”

About 80 per cent of restaurants say they are continuing to have staff wear masks; all still retain measures brought in to keep people safe during the pandemic, he said.

“There has never been a safer time to be in a restaurant than now.”

The poll of 1,000 Manitoba adults was conducted March 9-21 and is considered accurate plus or minus 3.1 percentage points 95 per cent of the time.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca