One-third of Canadians felt 'pressured' to comply with COVID lockdowns: survey

Governments prioritized 'flattening the curve' or minimizing the risk of COVID transmission during the pandemic, but they paid little attention to the effects of social isolation.

  • Rebel News
  • July 16, 2023
  • News
One-third of Canadians felt 'pressured' to comply with COVID lockdowns: survey
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According to a recent study, the authors of COVID lockdowns heeded no concern for the psychological consequences of social isolation. One-third of Canadians felt coerced into complying with public health orders.

Asked, "To what extent did you feel pressured by others to practice or not practice individual public health measures?" Three in ten said they felt pressured, including 38% for parents with young children and 42% for young adults.

Governments prioritized 'flattening the curve' or minimizing the risk of COVID transmission during the pandemic, but they paid little attention to the effects of social isolation.

"Some participants mentioned feeling a deep sense of guilt when they contracted Covid-19 as the infection was seen as a failure on their part to comply with public health or to keep themselves and their surroundings safe," said the report, Covid-19 Tracking Survey And Focus Groups On Canadians' Views.

Others explained their mental health worsened because of the public health measures, including anxiety from state surveillance and being unable to leave the house, reported Blacklock's Reporter.

A separate but related California study correlated impairment of time perception or "brain fog" to depression, anxiety and stressful physical and mental demands. Extensive periods without human interaction shrunk the part of the brain in charge of memory.

"The lack of meaningful interaction with others and the natural world and lack of physical activity and visual stimulation — is by itself sufficient to change the brain… dramatically depending on whether it lasts briefly or is extended," read the study.

"Distortion of time perception as a consequence of psychological states has been well established."

According to the study, the findings are akin to poor perception of event timelines previously found in prison inmates.

Internal Health Canada research supplemental to the inquiry on "brain fog" uncovered that a tenth of Canadians sought counselling for mental health support due to lockdown measures. They paid Léger $282,441 for the insight.

"Over a third, 38 percent, rated their mental health as' average,' 'bad,' or 'very bad,'" wrote researchers. 

"Respondents under the age of 55, parents of children under 18 and those who had been infected with Covid or believed they had been infected were more likely than other respondents to report their mental health as' average.'"

According to the Fraser Institute, public health lockdowns as implemented were a "radical and untried social policy." 

"Ultimately, estimates of the benefit of lockdowns in terms of lives saved were made based on data. Analysts used many procedures to identify the causal effect of lockdowns," reads the Institute's essay COVID-19: The Lessons We Should Have Learned. 

"Over and over, findings showed only minor positive effects on death rates. The most recent and thorough meta-analysis found that after combining all lockdown effects, there was only an average reduction in mortality of 3.2 percent."

The Imperial College of London model, led by Neil Ferguson, predicted there would be 132,687 COVID-related deaths in Canada by July 30, 2020, with full lockdowns in place. By that date, only 9,019 Canadians had died from COVID.

"Some parents mentioned they were worried about potential negative impacts on their children's schooling and their willingness to study," said Canadians' Views.

"A few participants also mentioned the negative impacts of living alone."

The Fraser Institute essay proved those concerns valid. They found that babies born during the pandemic scored lower on gross and fine motor skills, had developmental delays, and fared much worse on intelligence tests. 

"It is tragically ironic that children were least likely to suffer from the COVID disease but the most likely to suffer from the COVID-19 response," read Lessons We Should Have Learned.

Government restrictions resulted in minimized social interactions, "curtailing the daily lives of the population and the subsequent loss of temporal landmarks such as life events."

The policy think-tank could not estimate the fiscal cost of COVID lockdowns on Canadians upon publishing the report in January.

Rebel News reached out to the Institute for clarification on the fiscal costs but did not receive a response by the time of publication.

According to Blacklock's Reporter, researchers found 11% of Canadians surveyed had received mental health support at some point during the pandemic. 

"Most reported having received in-person support from social workers, psychologists or other professionals," said Canadians' Views.

"Now that restrictions have been lifted, all participants agreed their mental health has improved," said a pollster report.

Coronavirus Canada lockdown news
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