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Despite frequent messaging from public health officials and political leaders, 16 per cent of Albertans still believe the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic to be overblown, according to a poll by the Angus Reid Institute.

The online survey, which polled a randomized sample of 1,878 adults across the country from March 20 to 26, found that approximately 88 per cent of adults coast to coast believed the impact of the virus to be “serious” when asked to pick one of two views that most accurately represents them.

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But around one in eight, or 12 per cent, of Canadians indicated that the threat of the outbreak has been “overblown.”

Locally, that figure jumps to about one in six, or 16 per cent of Albertans. Around 84 per cent of Albertans are taking the pandemic seriously, according to the poll.

The survey was self-commissioned and paid for by the Angus Reid Institute and results carry a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Sample sizes were weighted according to census data.

One-fifth of Canadians surveyed who disregarded the prevailing opinion of experts surrounding the virus were from Alberta.

Those who don’t feel the global outbreak of the virus is as serious as purported by experts are less likely to be taking precautions like staying away from others, abstaining from public spaces and regularly washing their hands, according to the survey.

Those people are also seemingly less concerned that they or someone in their household could catch the illness.

As of Monday, there have been 690 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Alberta, including 422 in the Calgary area.

Eight people in the province have died after they were infected by the virus, including five since Sunday.

“These deaths speak to the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and why aggressive measures from all of us are needed to contain the spread,” Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said Monday.

In Canada, there have been approximately 6,300 cases and 66 related deaths.