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Number of Covid-19 deaths acceptable to ‘live with’

31 Aug 2021

Q. How many deaths nationally from Covid-19 do you think is acceptable to ‘live with’ in Australia as lockdown restrictions are removed?

  Total Gender Age Group Federal Voting Intention
Male Female 18-34 35-54 55+ Labor TOTAL: Coalition Greens TOTAL: Other
Less than 100 deaths per year 61% 52% 70% 55% 63% 65% 68% 56% 53% 53%
Between 100 and 1,000 deaths per year 25% 27% 22% 25% 22% 26% 21% 30% 29% 17%
Between 1,000 and 3,000 deaths per year 10% 13% 7% 13% 9% 8% 7% 9% 15% 23%
Between 3,000 and 5,000 deaths per year 2% 3% 1% 3% 2% 0% 1% 2% 1% 3%
More than 5,000 deaths per year 3% 5% 1% 3% 4% 1% 3% 3% 2% 4%
Base (n) 1,100 539 561 341 374 385 388 405 90 119

 

  State
NSW VIC QLD SA WA
Less than 100 deaths per year 63% 56% 62% 66% 61%
Between 100 and 1,000 deaths per year 26% 29% 19% 22% 24%
Between 1,000 and 3,000 deaths per year 8% 10% 12% 11% 8%
Between 3,000 and 5,000 deaths per year 1% 2% 3% 0% 3%
More than 5,000 deaths per year 2% 2% 4% 1% 4%
Base (n) 349 276 219 89 111
  • 61% of people say an ‘acceptable’ number of Covid-19 deaths is less than 100 per year. 25% say between 100 and 1,000 deaths would be ‘acceptable’. Only a small percentage think over 1000 deaths would be acceptable, with 10% saying 1,000 to 3,000, 2% between 3,000 and 5,000, and 3% saying more than 5,000 deaths per year.
  Get Covid-19 cases down as close to zero as possible Live with a few cases of Covid-19, as long as there are very few hospitalisations and deaths Live with Covid-19, even if there are hospitalisations and deaths
Less than 100 deaths per year 78% 55% 22%
Between 100 and 1,000 deaths per year 13% 33% 35%
Between 1,000 and 3,000 deaths per year 5% 10% 28%
Between 3,000 and 5,000 deaths per year 2% 2% 2%
More than 5,000 deaths per year 2% 1% 12%
Base (n) 482 488 130
  • Among those who said Australia should live with Covid-19, even if there are hospitalisations and deaths, 22% would accept up to 100 deaths per year, 35% would accept between 100 and 1,000 deaths, and 28% would accept 1,000 to 3,000.
  • Among those who think we should live with Covid-19 as long as there are only a few cases of hospitalisations and deaths, 55% think this would mean less than 100 deaths per year, and 33% between 100 and 1,000 deaths.
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