Canadian anti-mandate protests backfired

Plus: This movie theater chain doubled in size during the pandemic

Earlier this month, a group of protesters driving semi trucks began blockading the border between the United States and Canada, halting trade and travel on the ground between the two countries. The ostensible purpose of the blockades was in protest of public health measures to combat Covid, particularly vaccine mandates for border crossings. On Sunday, police disbanded the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, towing 37 vehicles and arresting 47 people. Today, protesters blockading the bridge connecting Alberta and Montana have disbanded. Disturbances at that blockade had led to 13 arrests and seizures of dozens of guns and other weapons. One blockade still remains but Prime Minister Trudeau has invoked emergency powers to disband both the bridge blockades and protests disrupting traffic and neighborhoods in the city of Ottawa.

Blocking trade between the United States and Canada has had a hefty price tag: estimates put the economic costs of the blockade at $500 million. But if the goal of the protesters was to get the public behind their cause, it may not have worked out the way they hoped. According to a survey by the Angus Reid Institute found that for 32% of Canadians, the blockades didn’t change their minds about vaccine mandates at the border crossings--but 44% said that the protests made them more likely to support such mandates. The survey also found that 70% of all Canadians opposed both the blockades and the behavior of the protesters.

Do you have comments or questions? Email us at health@forbes.com

More Covid News

California will keep in place its mask mandate for school children for at least two more weeks even though the state’s indoor mask mandate for vaccinated Californians is set to expire Wednesday.

Tennis star Novak Djokovic said in an interview today that he is prepared to skip future Grand Slam tournaments rather than be vaccinated for Covid-19.

Americans have less confidence in scientists than they did before the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2019, and trust has steadily declined over the course of the pandemic, a new Pew Research poll finds. 

Florida’s Walt Disney World will no longer require vaccinated guests to wear masks indoors, though unvaccinated guests will still be required to mask up. 

What Else We Are Reading

• Cook Islands reports first Covid case amid fears of ‘silent transmission’ (The Guardian)

• Medical Boards Pressured to Let It Slide When Doctors Spread Covid Misinformation (KHN)

• An Undiscovered Coronavirus? The Mystery of the ‘Russian Flu’ (New York Times)