July 2, 2024 – As the bird flu (H5N1) spreads in the United States, about half of Canadians are concerned about the virus spreading to humans, with four-in-ten worried it will result in a global pandemic or national epidemic. And, the public is divided in their perceptions of the federal government’s ability to prevent bird flu from becoming a human epidemic.
Just under half (49%) of Canadians are concerned about the spread of bird flu to a significant number of humans. Four-in-ten are concerned about the possibility of a H5N1 global pandemic (42%) or epidemic in the U.S. (40%) or Canada (41%). Personal concern is lower, as more than a third are concerned that they (35%) or a family member (38%) will catch the bird flu.
- Only about one-in-ten Canadians say they are not familiar with this issue.
- For context, concern about COVID-19 is only marginally higher than concern about Bird Flu, with higher concern about the possibility of family members catching it (38% for Bird Flu; 40% for COVID) than personally catching it (35% for Bird Flu; 36% for COVID).
Canadians are divided in their perceptions of the federal government’s ability to prevent Bird Flu from becoming an epidemic amongst humans. Equal proportions are confident (42%) and not confident (42%), with those who are not confident more likely to hold intense sentiment on this issue.
- Nevertheless, only four-in-ten (44%) Canadians believe that preventing the Bird Flu from becoming a national epidemic should be a top (14%) or major (30%) priority for the federal government. Another 29% feel it should be a moderate priority.
Prior to mentioning bird flu, we asked Canadians how confident they were in the health and safety of eating a range of related foods. Most Canadians are currently confident consuming milk (85%), chicken (82%), beef (82%), and pork (75%) – with between 34% to 41% feeling intensely so.
For more study details, see our report.
