COVID 19 has taken its toll -- not just in terms of sickness and death, but in terms of public optimism. Susan Delacourt writes:
New polling by Abacus research shows that COVID-19 anxiety has skyrocketed in the past few days, fuelled merely by the emergence of Omicron. “Four in 10 adults say they are becoming more worried about the pandemic over the past few days, almost doubling (20-point increase) the response to the same question a month ago,” Abacus reported on Tuesday.
The anxiety has landed with accompanying gloom about the future. A full 28 per cent of Canadians now believe the worst of COVID-19 is still to come; roughly the same (26 per cent) reported to Abacus that they thought the worst of the pandemic was over. “This is more pessimism about the future of the pandemic than since May 2021,” the polling report states.
EKOS polling is unearthing the same disturbing trends. EKOS president Frank Graves posted some of his research this week on Twitter, showing that COVID-19’s toll is depression, loneliness and lack of optimism over the long haul.
Managing public perceptions is what politics is all about. And politicians are in a bind:
David Coletto, head of Abacus research, says this newest wave of pandemic-related anxiety means that politicians just have to double down on transparency. “Leaders need to demonstrate they are monitoring the situation and have a plan that will be executed when certain things happen. Being perceived to be in control is critical,” Coletto said.
“The public has been on a roller-coaster. Every time their hope for an end to the pandemic grows, something else happens that increases anxiety and uncertainty. Being clear on what the government is doing and will do if certain thresholds are met can help.”
Our current crop of leaders doesn't run up the score on the subject of transparency. We'll see how it goes.
Image: Sky News
6 comments:
We don't yet know enough about the omicron variant to make effective decisions. It could be that the variant is more transmissible, but milder in its effect. The travel restrictions already seem misplaced, since it looks like omicron was already spreading in Europe before the South Africans sequenced and reported it. So blocking travel from African countries while leaving the door open for Europeans penalizes those that did the right thing by reporting the variant and rewards those that ignored the problem.
In good news, however, some 230 Toronto cops have been put on indefinite unpaid leave for failing to get vaxxed. These are cops that have no regard for public safety and refuse to follow orders. They include Doug Ford's son in law. Good riddance, we're better off without these losers.
Cap
There was a time when those who worked with the public accepted vaccination as part of the drill, Cap. Now ego trumps brains.
Doug Ford's daughter has been spreading antivax propaganda for some time now on social media like Instagram.
"It's not going to be two doses and done, it's going to be boosters for life, and every booster that you take is going to weaken your natural immunity to fight off the viruses. Just stop, stop complying."
"Holding the line for medical freedom, which [sic] at the end of the day, if we lose our bodily autonomy, the government completely owns us. We are undoubtedly slaves to the system."
She continues on to say that the COVID-19 shot "isn't just another eniccav," using the backwords version of the word, as has become popular among anti-vaxxers wanting to spread their views on socials without being flagged for vaccination subject matter.
Ford ends her diatribe by encouraging people to "rise up," saying that "they've manufactured the division between us like they've manufactured the suriv" (meaning virus)." https://www.blogto.com/city/2021/10/doug-ford-daughter-anti-vax-campaign/
Well, they say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I assume daughter and husband expect special treatment due to dear old dad running the place.
And it may be that people are a bit alarmed when they look at local figures. My public health region, going on memory, never hit over ~60 artive cases and often ran at 8--9 cases and we almost never say anyone in the hospital let alone the ICU. Today's figures are 304 active cases, 19 in hospital and 11 in the ICU. And our vaccination rate is high.
And Omicron has not arrived. Counting down the days til I qualify for a booster shot.
You're right, ffd. The apple didn't fall far from the tree.
As in your part of the world, jrk, our numbers used to be much lower than the provincial average. They have recently spiked significantly.
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