Canadians' COVID-19 concerns waning as provinces remove restrictions: Nanos

Nanos Research findings show Canadians' concerns about COVID-19 are waning as provinces continue to loosen public health measures and remove some restrictions.

On the latest episode of Trend Line, Nanos Research's Nik Nanos said concerns around the pandemic have been trending down among Canadians in recent months.

"It's basically almost at a three-month low. We haven't seen the numbers this low since the beginning of December," Nanos said.

As of Feb. 25, Nanos reports that when asked about national issues of concern, the coronavirus was cited by 18 per cent of surveyed Canadians, compared to Jan. 14 when that number was as high as 33 per cent.

The decrease in pandemic-related worries comes as provinces continue to open up and further ease or remove public health measures with overall COVID-19 case counts and hospitalizations dropping across the country.

Ontario dropped most of its major public health measures on Tuesday, with proof of vaccination no longer required to enter most restaurants, gyms and movie theatres.

Residents of Alberta are also seeing an end to indoor and outdoor social gathering limits and work-from-home requirements. While most masking rules in the province are being lifted, face coverings are still required in high-risk indoor settings and on public transit.

Remaining COVID-19 public health orders also expired in Saskatchewan on Monday, while those living in Quebec saw bars and casinos reopen at 50 per cent capacity, and theatres, places of worship and certain arenas return to operating at full capacity.

However, Nanos noted that two in three Canadians say they do not believe January's trucker convoy protests were not the catalyst for governments to reconsider these restrictions.

Even as provinces scale back their vaccine and mask mandates, Canada's top doctor warns governments should be ready to resume public health measures if another COVID-19 variant takes over.

Despite cases declining in most provinces, the latest seven-day trend from data tracked by CTVNews.ca shows Canada's overall COVID-19 count has actually edged slightly upwards since last week.

Listen to the full episode of Trend Line with CTVNews.ca's Michael Stittle and Nanos Research's Nik Nanos wherever you get your podcasts or by clicking on the video at the top of this article.