Majority of Canadian parents want kids to wear face masks when school restarts: survey

Aug 3 2020, 3:21 pm

With the return of school quickly approaching, a new study has found that 65% of Canadian parents want their students to wear face masks when classes resume at the end of this month.

The web survey was conducted by Leger, the largest Canadian-owned polling and marketing research firm in the country, and surveyed over 1,500 Canadians and 1,000 Americans concerning a variety of COVID-19-related topics in regards to the return of school.

The poll found that 59% of Canadian parents would send their children back to school “when/if school resumed” in their province, while 18% of parents opted to keep their kids at home.

At 77%, parents in Quebec are the most likely to send their kids back to school when it restarts versus 40% in British Columbia, the lowest percentage of all provinces.

Besides students wearing masks, when it comes to putting safety measures in place throughout classrooms, 82% of parents want mandatory temperature checks, 81% want teachers and staff wearing masks, and 77% of respondents want students to answer a screening questionnaire.

Leger

Contrastly, 82% of American parents want their children to wear face masks when schools restart at the end of August.

The Leger polled asked parents what they would do if their child or a faculty member caught the virus and 45% of them responded to “follow the advice put forward by the school.” Thirty percent of Canadians said they’d keep their children at home for 14 days, and 20% said they’d keep their kids at home indefinitely. Two percent of respondents said they’d have them back in class and usual.

More information on the survey, methodology, and additional questions can be found on the Leger website.

Data collection took place online between July 24 and 26.

Ty JadahTy Jadah

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