By Canadian Press

Two-thirds favour keeping two-metres physical distance: Leger poll

Jun 23, 2020 | 2:01 AM

OTTAWA — A new poll suggests two-thirds of Canadians don’t want to relax the physical distancing rules imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19.

And if they were relaxed, fewer than half would feel comfortable taking part in activities that would bring them closer to other people, like going to a movie theatre.

Sixty-six per cent of respondents to the poll, conducted by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies, said two metres should remain the safe distance kept between people.

Just 12 per cent favoured reducing the distance to 1.5 metres, as is required in many European countries, and 10 per cent favoured a reduction to one metre, the minimum recommended by the World Health Organization.

If the physical distancing rule was reduced to one metre, 40 per cent said they’d be comfortable dining in a restaurant, 28 per cent going to a movie theatre, 24 per cent to a gym and 21 per cent to a bar or night club.

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The online poll of 1,521 adult Canadians was conducted June 19-21; it cannot be assigned a margin of error because internet-based polls are not considered random samples.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 23, 2020.

The Canadian Press