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84% support for mandatory indoor masks to combat COVID-19 in Ontario, poll finds
More than four out of five Ontarians support making it mandatory to wear masks indoors to curb the spread of COVID-19, a new poll for the Star has found.
The Campaign Research survey found that 63 per cent of respondents “strongly support” compulsory indoor masks, while 21 per cent “somewhat support” them. Only six per cent “strongly oppose” masks with eight per cent “somewhat” opposed and the rest unsure.
Campaign Research principal Nick Kouvalis said the overall 84 per cent support is significant five months into a pandemic that has killed more than 2,800 Ontarians, plunged the province into a recession and cost nearly 1.2-million jobs.
“People believe wearing masks inside helps. It’s just not controversial here like it is in the United States,” Kouvalis said Friday.
Indeed, south of the border, sporting a mask is derided in some quarters as a political statement.
But numerous Ontario regions and municipalities — including Toronto, Peel, Halton, York, Durham and Ottawa — have enacted bylaws requiring masks to be worn in indoor public places, such as shops, with little public outcry.
“We are in way better shape in Ontario than in the U.S.,” Kouvalis said, referring to the province’s relatively low count of new cases that contrasts sharply to some American states where the virus is spreading rapidly.
