Views towards impact of increasing Covid-19 cases on public health system

Q. How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements about your state’s public health system during the Covid-19 pandemic?

	TOTAL: Agree	TOTAL: Disagree	Strongly agree	Somewhat agree	Neither disagree nor agree	Somewhat disagree	Strongly disagree
My state’s public health system is already struggling to cope and will be overwhelmed by any surge in Covid hospitalisations	55%	19%	27%	28%	27%	14%	4%
The federal government is planning to ease restrictions without paying enough attention to how the public health system will cope with increased Covid cases	53%	19%	26%	27%	28%	13%	6%
My state’s public health system can manage any surge in Covid hospitalisations	40%	29%	13%	27%	31%	17%	12%
People vaccinated against Covid-19 should be prioritised for medical attention over unvaccinated people	39%	34%	18%	21%	28%	14%	20%

• Over half of people believe that the public health system is already struggling to cope and will be overwhelmed by any surge in Covid hospitalisations (55%), and that the federal government is not paying enough attention to how the public health system will cope with increased Covid cases (53%).

TOTAL: Agree	Total	Gender			Age Group				Federal Voting Intention
		Male	Female	18-34		35-54	55+	Labor		TOTAL: Coalition	Greens	TOTAL: Other
My state’s public health system is already struggling to cope and will be overwhelmed by any surge in Covid hospitalisations	55%	52%	57%	52%		57%	54%	56%		57%	54%	47%
The federal government is planning to ease restrictions without paying enough attention to how the public health system will cope with increased Covid cases	53%	54%	53%	54%		54%	52%	62%		48%	61%	53%
My state’s public health system can manage any surge in Covid hospitalisations	40%	46%	34%	48%		40%	33%	37%		51%	33%	33%
People vaccinated against Covid-19 should be prioritised for medical attention over unvaccinated people	39%	44%	33%	42%		39%	35%	35%		48%	40%	33%
Base (n)	1,100	539	561	341		374	385	367		389	103	145

• Coalition voters are most likely to believe that their state’s public health system can manage any surge in Covid hospitalisations (51%).

TOTAL: Agree	State
	NSW	VIC	QLD	SA	WA
My state’s public health system is already struggling to cope and will be overwhelmed by any surge in Covid hospitalisations	61%	53%	43%	56%	66%
The federal government is planning to ease restrictions without paying enough attention to how the public health system will cope with increased Covid cases	55%	50%	52%	50%	65%
My state’s public health system can manage any surge in Covid hospitalisations	42%	44%	39%	23%	37%
People vaccinated against Covid-19 should be prioritised for medical attention over unvaccinated people	40%	42%	38%	31%	39%
Base (n)	352	274	217	89	111

• However, South Australians are most concerned, with just 23% agreeing that any surges in Covid-19 hospitalisations can be managed by SA’s public health system.