COVID-19 in Canada: A self-assessment and review of preparedness and response

Yu, Alice L.; Prasad, Sophia; Akande, Adebisi; Murariu, A.; Yuan, Serena; Kathirkamanathan, Sylvia; Ma, Myles; Ladha, Sarah

doi:10.7189/jogh.10.0203104

Cited by 20 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Public Health Ontario (2020) reported a total of 34,911 cases of COVID-19 in Ontario near the end of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (as of 28 June 2020), and 467,000 during the third wave ( Government of Ontario, 2021b ). At the time of our study, ‘Canada’s case-fatality rate (8.29%) was higher than that of both the global average (5.17%) and the United States (5.17%)’ ( Yu et al , 2020 , p. 2).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 79%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Workers at the Frontline: A Survey of Canadian Social Workers

Ashcroft

Sur²,

Greenblatt

et al. 2021

The British Journal of Social Work

109

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Social workers are facing increasingly complex client needs during the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Because of the social distancing requirements of the pandemic, social workers have undergone transformative changes in practice with the rapid uptake of virtual technologies. The objective of our study was to understand the experiences of social workers during the first-wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a cross-sectional, web-based survey, comprised of close-ended and open-ended questions. Survey participants included social workers who were the members of a provincial social work association in Ontario, Canada. With n = 2,470 participants, the response rate was close to 40 per cent. Descriptive statistics were conducted on the close-ended questions. Two open-ended questions were coded using the thematic analysis. Nine themes were identified on the impact to social worker’s employment status: increased work-load; loss of employment; redeployment to new settings; early retirement; concern for personal health and safety; social workers in private practice seeing fewer clients; personal caregiving responsibilities; limiting recent graduates’ employment potential and social workers experiencing new opportunities. There were five themes on the impact on social work practice: clients with increasing complexities; challenges with transition to virtual care; benefits with transition to virtual care; adapting in-person services and personal well-being.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 79%

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Workers at the Frontline: A Survey of Canadian Social Workers

Ashcroft

Sur²,

Greenblatt

et al. 2021

The British Journal of Social Work

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By March 2020, the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization [ 1 , 2 ]. Public health measures, including lockdowns and limitations on non-essential activities were introduced with the goal of slowing the spread of the virus [ 3 ]. Once it became clear that resources would be strained to their maximum capacity, limitations were placed on all non-urgent care with the suspension of the majority of elective, non-essential procedures to allow resources to be re-prioritized towards combating the pandemic [ 4 , 5 ].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of delaying colonoscopies during the COVID-19 pandemic on colorectal cancer detection and prevention

et al. 2022

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Purpose The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a partial to total shutdown of endoscopy in many healthcare centers. This study aims to quantify the impact of the reduction in colonoscopies on colorectal cancer (CRC) detection and screening . Methods After institutional ethics board approval, the endoscopy database at an academic tertiary-care center in Montreal, Canada, was searched for all colonoscopies performed from during the first wave locally (March–June 2020), and during the ramp up period where endoscopy service resumed (July to August 2020). We compared these periods to the same periods in 2019, the pre-pandemic periods. The indications, CRC and adenoma detection rates, as well as the prioritization of urgent procedures were compared. Results In the first wave, only 462 colonoscopies were performed, compared to 2515 in the same period in 2019, an 82% reduction. The ramp up period saw 843 colonoscopies performed compared to 1328 in 2019, a 35% reduction. Urgent and inpatient colonoscopies numbers increased (324 (24.8%) vs. 220 (5.7%)) while surveillance and high-risk screening colonoscopies fell (376 (28.8%) vs 1869 (48.6%)). Emergency access to colonoscopy was preserved with a median time to endoscopy of < 1 day (IQR 0,1) in both pandemic periods. During the pandemic periods, there was an absolute reduction in CRC diagnosis of 28, despite the CRC detection per colonoscopy rate increasing slightly in the first wave from 1.7% (44) to 3.9% (18), and in the ramp up period from 2.5% (33) to 3.6% (31). The rate of adenoma detection per colonoscopy did not increase significantly between the pre- and pandemic periods, resulting in reduction in adenoma removal in 723 patients. Discussion The restriction of access to colonoscopy resulted in a significant reduction in screening and surveillance of high-risk patients, adenomas removed, and CRCs diagnosed. Clinicians and patients will face the oncologic ramifications this the coming years. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00464-022-09211-z.

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“…For example, many Canadian hospitals were able to reconstruct their emergency departments in order to accommodate for an increase in emergency health care delivery. A specific example would be a hospital in North York that was able to completely alter their ED system, including installing new ventilation systems, and managed to continue operations after 33 hours (Yu, et al, 2020). Even in rural hospitals, increased patients were managed by increasing equipment and accommodations through networking.…”

Section: Public Health Flexibilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Canada’s Future Pandemic Plan: A Reflection of COVID-19

Xu¹

2022

J Stud Res

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COVID-19 is one of the most recent and devastating pandemic the world is facing. Canada, despite preparation with developing national and provincial pandemic plans, experiencing a delay of transmission of COVID-19, and maintaining international connections, Canada experienced disappointing challenges. This paper evaluates COVID-19 and Canada's actions towards research, surveillance, health care, case tracking, vaccines, and social communication, as a measure of evaluation on Canada’s preparedness. Here a combination of data is used, including statistics of Canada’s case/death count, along with analysis of many other countries around the world, including South Korea, Israel, and the United States. With many countries implementing various regulations at different time periods during the growth of COVID-19, this paper considers and interprets the importance of various government interventions. SARS-CoV-2 is extremely transmissible and mutable, emphasizing the importance of rapid efforts to mitigate impacts and to focus on the most vulnerable. As COVID-19 continues to evolve, without any effective control measures, Canada would continue to see a disproportionate influence of COVID-19. Additionally, since a future pandemic is unavoidable, the COVID-19 pandemic is an amazing event that showcases Canada’s places of improvement and development. This proposed plan outlines elements that Canada should consider, as we continue to fight against SARS-CoV-2, and for the future epidemics/pandemics.

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COVID-19 in Canada: A self-assessment and review of preparedness and response

Cited by 20 publications

References 35 publications

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Workers at the Frontline: A Survey of Canadian Social Workers

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Social Workers at the Frontline: A Survey of Canadian Social Workers

The impact of delaying colonoscopies during the COVID-19 pandemic on colorectal cancer detection and prevention

Canada’s Future Pandemic Plan: A Reflection of COVID-19

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