Despite widespread awareness of swine flu, a new poll suggests Canadians feel the dangers of the H1N1 virus may be exaggerated.
While 98 per cent of Canadians know about the illness, 68 per cent believe news organizations have over-hyped the threat, according to a Strategic Counsel survey conducted for CTV and the Globe and Mail.
Forty-six per cent of respondents said they're taking simple precautions against contracting the illness, like frequently washing their hands. But more extreme measures, like cancelling public events, are not widely supported.
"For preventative actions, it's a scale -- they're more likely to accept ones that don't directly affect them," the Strategic Counsel's Peter Donolo told CTV.ca.
When asked to what extent Canadians support steps to prevent the spread of H1N1, less intrusive methods were far more popular:
- Barring visitors from affected countries: 62 per cent
- Enforced quarantines of affected people: 57 per cent
- Barring visitors from hospitals: 52 per cent
- Mandatory daily flu checks at schools and workplaces: 50 per cent
- Limiting air travel: 45 per cent
- Requiring the wearing of masks in public places: 36 per cent
- Cancelling large public gatherings, like sporting events: 31 per cent
"The minute you start talking about whether they can go to a hockey game, well, support diminishes," said Donolo. "But there's no hesitation about keeping people from infected countries out of Canada."
When respondents were asked to rate the severity of swine flu from a scale of one to seven -- one meaning "life threatening" and seven indicating "no worse than a common cold or flu" -- few considered the illness to be fatal.
- 7 (no worse than the common cold): 7 per cent
- 6, 5: 28 per cent
- 4: 22 per cent
- 3, 2: 36 per cent
- 1 (life threatening): 8 per cent
However, 62 per cent said they want a vaccination against swine flu.
Canadians also seem to be supportive of the measures already taken by government agencies. Across the country, 86 per cent think that health officials are taking the proper precautions for swine flu, and 76 per cent think Canada is better prepared than most countries to cope with the virus.
But 61 per cent of Canadians said that little can be done to stop the spread of swine flu in a globalized world.
"There's a bit of fatalism here," said Donolo.
Technical notes
- The Strategic Counsel survey was conducted between Friday, July 17 and Tuesday, July 21, 2009
- Respondents completed web-based questionnaires
- All 1,000 respondents were 18 years or older
- The results of this poll are based on a sample where quota sampling and weighting are employed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to Census data.
