Canadians broadly supportive of COVID-19 tracing apps: survey

Some eight in 10 Canadians support the use of wireless data to track the spread of COVID-19, and 65 per cent of Canadians think it should be mandatory, according to a survey released by three federal senators. The survey — commissioned by senators Colin Deacon, Donna Dasko and Rosemary Moodie; and conducted by University of Toronto professor and Public Policy Forum fellow Peter Loewen — also found that some 90 percent of Canadians believe that it will be necessary to continue "ongoing" contact tracing in the absence of a vaccine. Some 87 per cent of Canadians think that the data, if it was kept anonymous, should be used to trigger testing for themselves and others. The survey did find, however, that there were widespread concerns about privacy: 73 per cent of respondents were either "somewhat" or "very" concerned that sharing information from contact tracing apps could lead to them being identified or discriminated against. “There is an increasing sense of urgency that we find ways to both protect public health and get the economy moving again. Current efforts to fight the pandemic are receiving consistent public support, but are creating unsustainable economic conditions," Deacon said in the release. “With over seven million Canadians applying for emergency benefits, the economy propped up by unprecedented billions of tax dollars. We need options that will give Canadians the confidence needed to safely get back to work in a manner that increasingly protects their health,” he said. The push toward the use of contact tracing applications to track the spread of the virus has gained steam in recent weeks, even as some advocates have sought to bring the practice into the regulatory fold. Alberta became the first Canadian province to roll out a contract tracing app, ABTraceTogether, announced at a press conference on May 1. The survey was conducted from May 2 to May 4 from an online sample of 1,530 Canadians, stratified by gender and province, according to the survey's description of its methodology. The results are accurate within a 2.5 per cent margin of error at the 95 per cent confidence interval, according to the release.

Canadians broadly supportive of COVID-19 tracing apps: survey

Brief | May 8, 2020

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Canadians broadly supportive of COVID-19 tracing apps: survey

Brief | May 8, 2020

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