Comfort levels vary in response to economic restart

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 05/05/2020 (2161 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Caleigh Stamm had travel plans: she was supposed to visit Las Vegas for punk rock bowling in May, and was waiting for an appointment with the Mayo clinic in the United States to address health concerns.

As the novel coronavirus spread, however, Stamm — like many Manitobans — took the pandemic seriously, following government social-distancing guidelines, staying in as much as possible and cancelling her trips.

Now, as the province begins to reopen its economy and relax precautionary measures, Stamm is among the Manitobans who believe it’s still too soon to get back to any sense of normal.

“I, personally, am not going to go out and do anything. I go out once a week if I need groceries and that’s it,” Stamm said in an interview Tuesday. “And I’m mentally prepared to do that for a year.”

While many lauded Manitoba’s choice to slowly get back in business Monday, Stamm wants a more robust federal plan, even a vaccine, before risking re-entry.

“Personally, I’m completely against it — I feel like we just did testing for everybody who was symptomatic almost the same day they opened the province up. I feel like we should have probably done that for two weeks, and if we had zero numbers for two weeks, it would have made more sense to open up the province,” she said.

“Until there’s a vaccine, everyone is susceptible.”

According to the latest weekly polling data from Leger360, respondents are largely at ease with the pace of provincial plans.

Respondents from Manitoba and Saskatchewan (grouped together in regional polling data) were generally comfortable with Prairie re-entry plans, with 60 per cent preferring to maintain the current pace and 12 per cent noting the pace should be sped up.

More than one-quarter of respondents, however, thought the provincial pace should be slowed down.

Dan Bailis, head of the University of Manitoba department of psychology, said it’s not surprising residents would have varying levels of comfort with provincial and federal reopening plans, as the risk calculations can be significantly different from person to person.

“I think the hesitancy is there because the virus isn’t gone,” Bailis said in an interview Tuesday. “Certainly, part of what’s affecting people’s feelings is just that we’ve had some time to get used to this situation, so it seems natural enough to me that our fears would go down over time.”

Factors such as passage of time, comfort with isolation, and how other community members choose to act all play a role in each individual’s comfort level with returning to “normal,” Bailis said.

“But it’s understanding that that won’t be the same for every person. Some people will feel it’s never been the kind of situation in Manitoba that warranted so much restriction of the economy; others will feel they’ve gotten well-adapted to the situation by now, so why then would they take the risk when it’s still present.”

For Stamm, who has asthma and an otherwise compromised immune system, the risks far outweigh the rewards of stepping back into public life.

“Because we’re in Manitoba, because the numbers are so low, we’re very fortunate, but it’s like this false sense of security where people just feel that they’re really comfortable,” she said.

As more provinces enter a reopening phase, Bailis predicts comfort levels will likely increase, as individuals learn from watching other community members step back into public life.

“Certainly, people will become more comfortable as it becomes more normal,” he said. “Bit by bit, we’re all going to try things and, if they go OK, we’re going to try them again.”

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca