Arrests, fines, city quarantine? Sign us up, say most Canadians, to flatten the COVID-19 curve

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The daily COVID-19 numbers out of B.C. show the peak of this outbreak is still ahead of us, and health authorities are stressing that now is a critical time to maintain physical distance from others.

While some new polling shows more of us are doing that, it also finds we’re willing to see a crackdown on those who don’t.

The latest numbers from Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies finds the vast majority of respondents — 97 per cent — have been practicing social distancing.

Almost as many have been keeping two meters away from others, washing their hands a lot, and have stopped going out except for necessities.

But nearly two-in-three have also witnessed people not doing those things in just the past week.

That might explain why a majority of those polled indicated they would support the government bringing in harsher enforcement measures, like arrests, fines, and even total city-wide quarantines.

Sixty-four-per-cent of respondents told Leger they would support fines for those not respecting the measures in place to help flatten the curve, while just over half – 51 per cent – “totally agree” with arresting people as an enforcement measure. When it comes to a complete quarantine of a city, which would entail a shutdown of anything non-essential and “nobody leaving or entering your city,” 44 per cent said they totally agreed with that as an enforcement.

Read the full Leger results here: 

Leger COVID-19-Tracking-Study-March-31-Final

According to Leger, on a provincial level, people in B.C. were the most likely to support fines, while more people in the Atlantic and Quebec were on board with arresting those who didn’t comply with measures. Quebec and B.C. also came out as the top supporters of a total quarantine.

On a national scale, however, support soars. A total of 92 per cent of respondents across Canada support fines, while 82 per cent said they would agree with arrests. Seventy-seven-per-cent of Canadians totally agree with a city-wide quarantine.

Americans polled had less support for these measures. Only 73 per cent agreed with fines for people who don’t respect measures, 55 per cent supported arrests, and 68 per cent would be on board with a quarantine.

When it comes to where Canadians think we are in this COVID-19 pandemic, 65 per cent said “the worst of the crisis is yet to come.” Only about three per cent of respondents believe the worst is behind us, while 23 per cent said right now is the worst it’s going to get.

So what do we think about our government’s response? Leger has found it slightly varies between the federal, provincial, and municipal levels.

Many people — 44 per cent – told Leger they were “somewhat satisfied” with the measures put in place by the federal government, versus 26 per cent who said they were “very satisfied.” At the provincial level, an equal 40 per cent of people were both “very satisfied” and “somewhat satisfied” with what their governments were doing to try and tackle COVID-19. At the municipal level, 43 per cent of respondents said they were somewhat satisfied.

When will it end

While we all want to know when this is going to be over, some further research using data from Italy shows that announcing an end date is a tricky thing for governments.

If it’s way later than people expect, compliance was found to go down. If it’s earlier, it generally goes up.

Also, announcing an end date – like Easter, for example, which had been floated as a possibility by U.S. President Donald Trump — then moving those goal posts may lead to frustration, and a greater lack of trust in authorities.

Compliance with COVID-19 social distancing measures in Italy