Should we keep masking up and showing vaccine passports in B.C. as we head into mid-March and spring break?
Vancouver residents seem ready to ditch the province's remaining pandemic-related restrictions, according to a recent V.I.A. poll, which found that 44.55% of local respondents would like to see all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in British Columbia lifted before spring break.
A further 25.99% voted to indicate they are keen to see some restrictions removed by then.
In mid-February, B.C. eased multiple COVID restrictions across the province, including ending capacity limits at restaurants and event venues, with promises of more removals to come, should the data indicate it's safe to do so.
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said on March 1 that heading toward spring break, the province will be "removing restrictions and layers of protection."
"As soon as we are confident we can safely make those changes and we can support everybody in doing that," Henry said, adding that this spring is a "natural transition time" when social activities are especially important, particularly for young people, including graduations, performances and concerts.
However, Dr. Henry's emphasis was on "personal responsibility" and creating an atmosphere of acceptance for those who may continue to use tools of protection - like face masks - even if the provincial mandate is lifted.
The health officer also said COVID-19 safety tools, such as physical distancing and face masks, will not be "abandoned" as immunity wanes over time.
If officials are ready to lift restrictions, we could know as soon as later this week - as schools close down for the break across the province - what the next steps will be in B.C.
Here are the results of our recent poll
Vancouver Is Awesome polled 1022 Vancouver Is Awesome readers and asked the question: Should B.C. remove more COVID restrictions in time for Spring Break?
The poll ran from 3/2/2022 to 3/6/2022. Of the 1022 votes, we can determine that 404 are from within the community. The full results are as follows:
Results are based on an online study of adult Vancouver Is Awesome readers that are located in Vancouver. The margin of error - which measures sample variability - is +/- 3.06%, 19 times out of 20.
Vancouver Is Awesome uses a variety of techniques to capture data, detect and prevent fraudulent votes, detect and prevent robots, and filter out non-local and duplicate votes.
