As you know, the emergency rooms are overflowing. Once again, the health network is crumbling under pressure. Thousands of children are falling ill while, on the front of COVID-19, the balance sheet of Quebec continues to increase: only Friday, 19 dead.
You know all that. As you know there is a wonderfully simple way to stop the spread of respiratory viruses that cause this catastrophic mess: wearing a mask.
No less than 82% of Quebecers believe that the mask is effective in fighting infections, according to the most recent survey by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ). Only 18% do not believe it.
But then, why the hell don’t we wear it more?
To elucidate this mystery, I turned to Kim Lavoie, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Psychology at UQAM. The expert knows a lot about the different policies and communication strategies to adopt to encourage a population to change its behavior.
His observation is severe: since the start of the pandemic, the health authorities have done almost everything that behavioral science recommended… not to do.
Basically, there are two approaches to changing the behavior of a population: the carrot and the stick. Quebec, from the beginning, opted for the stick, notes Kim Lavoie.
“The message has always been authoritative: punishment awaits you if you do not comply with our guidelines. If you don’t wear the mask, you will be prevented from going to restaurants, flying, etc. »
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, THE PRESS
A metro passenger, in 2020
To be honest, I don’t remember many people at the time who opposed these restrictive measures. For my part, I was certainly not against it. The urgency was to contain the pandemic. But here it is: according to the DD Lavoie, this “military method” caused Quebecers to wear masks, first and foremost, to avoid punishment. So when the threat of punishment was lifted, they stopped wearing it. They no longer had the motivation to do so.
At the height of the pandemic, health authorities forced Quebecers to comply “like sheep”, still regrets the DD The way. Instead, they should have been helped to assess the risks – and to think for themselves. “One of the basic needs of human beings is to be independent. Nobody likes to be told what to do. One has the impression of being infantilized. As if we couldn’t organize ourselves. »
The result, after three years of this intransigent treatment, is that Quebecers have gotten used to it. “We wait to be told what to do rather than using our critical sense. It seems that in the absence of obligation, people are unable to make an informed decision. »
Worse, for part of the population, the mask has become a symbol of repression and loss of freedom. These people who criticize the wearing of the mask do not like to be placed before the fact that we are “still in the midst of a pandemic, which they want to forget”, observes the psychologist.
Perhaps they also feel guilty at the idea that the masked citizens are right – and that they are wrong to walk around unprotected. “They reject a symbol that confronts them and makes them uncomfortable. »
If we rely on the INSPQ survey, a quarter of Quebecers would wear a mask at work and a third in public transport. No less than 42% of Montrealers would be masked in the metro and buses.
I don’t know about you, but that’s not what I’m seeing at all, actually. It’s a bit as if many of those polled had wisely answered… what needed to be answered.
People know perfectly well what they should do, in theory, observes Kim Lavoie. “A smoker, it is not because he lacks knowledge of the harmful effects of tobacco that he smokes. The problem is not a lack of information, but a lack of motivation. »
A lack of motivation, because we’re going to tell ourselves: it’s unpleasant, wearing a mask. But above all, because the health authorities have never really tried to make it a habit.
It can still be done, believes Kim Lavoie. A social campaign can still normalize the mask, as has been done for the bicycle helmet and the seat belt.
We must make the mask as banal as the umbrella, illustrates the psychologist. “On gray days, we assess the risk of getting wet and we slip an umbrella into our bag, just in case. You can create the same reflex with the mask. If I go to the Bell Center for a hockey game where 22,000 people are going to be shouting and sputtering, I’m going to take my mask with me. »
“We never say to people who carry an umbrella: “Ah, well, cursed sheep! My God, you must be afraid of the rain!?” That would be totally ridiculous. We must ensure that such a speech becomes just as ridiculous among Quebecers who have the good sense to wear a mask.