Boise has reopened. Survey shows who is comfortable returning to events, ‘normal’ life
Nearly two months after all adults in the Treasure Valley became eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and nearly two weeks after Boise’s mayor lifted a citywide mask mandate, most Boiseans are ready to resume normal travel and attend large gatherings, according to a recent survey.
But residents remain split with their feelings about the virus, and more than a quarter of Boise adults say they are “very unlikely” to get vaccinated — perhaps not a surprise considering the state’s already poor vaccination rate.
Residents who have been vaccinated or who are “very likely” to get vaccinated actually reported being most concerned about COVID-19, and were the most likely to report feeling unsafe fully returning to “normal life,” according to a survey conducted in early May by Embold Research, a new, nonpartisan division of San Francisco-based polling firm Change Research, which conducts online-only polling for advocacy groups and Democratic candidates. Embold funded the survey itself as a way to introduce the company to the Boise market.
It was those residents least likely to get vaccinated who reported the fewest qualms about returning to regular events.
Fifty-nine percent of vaccinated or likely to be vaccinated residents reported feeling “very” or “somewhat” safe traveling on a plane, and 54% reported feeling at least somewhat safe traveling on mass transit, but 91% of those “very unlikely” to be vaccinated reported feeling at least somewhat safe traveling on a plane or mass transit, according to the survey.
Of the already vaccinated or likely to be vaccinated group, 41% reported feeling at least somewhat safe attending a large gathering, while that number was 96% for those who say they are “very unlikely” to be vaccinated.
For the 27% of residents who are highly unlikely to get vaccinated, Embold Research noted that a lack of trust in government or the scientific trials, or a belief in the existence of the disease itself, played a significant role. Forty-four percent of residents who reported they were unlikely to get vaccinated said they felt the vaccines, all of which received emergency authorization from the Food and Drug Administration, were either too new or not thoroughly tested.
“Although just 16% of these responses directly reference a lack of trust, distrust in the government, pharmaceutical companies, and the media is a common sentiment among many who say they won’t get vaccinated,” the firm wrote.
Ada County, which includes Boise, has one of the highest vaccination rates in the state. According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, 40.4% of the county’s population is fully vaccinated, compared to 33% statewide. Nationally, 39.7% of the country’s population is fully vaccinated.
The survey also found that women are 12% more likely to be seriously concerned about COVID-19 than men and are more likely to declare feeling unsafe returning to air travel, mass transit or large gatherings.
Among the city’s Hispanic residents, survey respondents were 5% less likely to get vaccinated despite being “10 points more seriously concerned about COVID-19” than the city’s white residents.
Embold, the polling firm, found that this concern reflects “disparities in COVID-19 cases and vaccination rates among the Hispanic population in Idaho.”
About 13% of Idahoans are Hispanic, but that population has a disproportionate 18% of the state’s COVID-19 cases with known ethnicity, according to data from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
Across the state, about 12.5% of the Hispanic population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from the Census Bureau and Idaho Health and Welfare. (Many doses have been administered in the state to people of unknown ethnicity.)
When asked by the firm how funds from the American Rescue Plan, President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, should be spent, respondents’ top priorities were “providing aid directly to residents and to small businesses.”
Embold’s research surveyed 924 adults in Boise and Garden City online between May 7-12.
This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
