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Healthcare systems and health professionals are facing a litany of stressors that have been compounded by the pandemic, and consequently, this has further perpetuated suboptimal mental health and burnout in nursing. The purpose of this paper is to report select findings from a larger, national study exploring gendered experiences of mental health, leave of absence (LOA), and return to work from the perspectives of nurses and key stakeholders. Given the breadth of the data, this paper will focus exclusively on the qualitative results from 53 frontline Canadian nurses who were purposively recruited for their workplace insight. This paper focuses on the substantive theme of "Breaking Point," in which nurses articulated a multiplicity of stress points at the individual, organizational, and societal levels that amplified burnout and accelerated mental health LOA from the workplace. These findings exemplify the complexities that underlie nurses' mental health and burnout and highlight the urgent need for multipronged individual, organizational, and structural interventions. Robust and timely interventions are needed to restore the health of the nursing profession and sustain its future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 has caused millions of deaths globally, with vulnerable populations such as people experiencing homelessness (PEH) at higher risk. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to identify the prevalence and key factors contributing to vaccine acceptance experienced by PEH. Methods: The protocol of this study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023391659). We included studies that reported relevant information about vaccine acceptance or vaccine hesitant/refusal among PEH. Eight databases were systematically searched in January 2023. Meta-analysis was conducted for the prevalence of vaccine acceptance, vaccine uptake, and factors associated with vaccine acceptance. Attitudes toward vaccines were combined into bar charts. Result: A total of 29 papers were included in this systematic review and 19 papers were included for meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among PEH was 66% (95%CI: 58%-73%). Our meta-regression showed vaccine acceptance was significantly increased over time. Moreover, subgroup meta-analysis showed that PEH were more likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccine after June 2021 (78%, 95%CI: 65%-86%) compared with earlier period (56%, 95%CI: 54%-59%). Subgroup meta-analysis also revealed that women and participants without underlying medical condition (chronic diseases) were significantly less likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccine, compared to men and those with medical conditions, respectively. Conclusion: The study emphasizes the need for targeted public health interventions aimed at increasing vaccine acceptance among PEH, especially at the early stage of the pandemic, among females, those without underlying medical conditions, being Black (in Canada and the USA), and young people. These interventions should address the common concerns of vaccine safety, adverse effects, effectiveness, and distrust in health care systems. In addition to offering vaccinations in different areas convenient to them, education programs could be established to increase vaccine acceptance among PEH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to introduce a novel family of probability distributions by the well-known method of the T–X family of distributions. The proposed family is called a "Novel Generalized Exponent Power X Family" of distributions. A three-parameters special sub-model of the proposed method is derived and named a "Novel Generalized Exponent Power Weibull" distribution (NGEP-Wei for short). For the proposed family, some statistical properties are derived including the hazard rate function, moments, moment generating function, order statistics, residual life, and reverse residual life. The well-known method of estimation, the maximum likelihood estimation method is used for estimating the model parameters. Besides, a comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation study is conducted to assess the efficacy of this estimation method. Finally, the model selection criterion such as Akaike information criterion (AINC), the correct information criterion (CINC), the Bayesian information criterion (BINC), the Hannan–Quinn information criterion (HQINC), the Cramer–von-Misses (CRMI), and the ANDA (Anderson–Darling) are used for comparison purpose. The comparison of the NGEP-Wei with other rival distributions is made by Two COVID-19 data sets. In terms of performance, we show that the proposed method outperforms the other competing methods included in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon two previously published research papers exploring Canadian media reporting of childhood in the first wave of the pandemic, this paper investigates how constructions of childhood evolved from the first wave to the fourth wave of the pandemic. This qualitative research is guided by the central research question: Over the span of 2 years, from 2020 to 2022, what changes are evident in discourses reported within media focused on the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic on Canadians under the age of 18 years? Findings from this study suggest that in the fourth wave young people were constructed as innocent victims of pandemic restrictions framed through an adult-centric lens; noticeably absent were representations of young people under the age of 18 in their voices. A key recommendation emerged from this study: any future research investigating the impact of the pandemic on young people under aged 18 years must include their full participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews major structural drivers of place-based health disparities in the context of Canada, an industrialized nation with a strong public health system. Likelihood that the COVID-19 pandemic will facilitate rejuvenation of Canada's northern and remote areas through remote working, advances in online teaching and learning, and the increased use of telemedicine are also examined. The paper concludes by identifying some common themes to address healthcare disparities for northern and remote Canadian residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to the COVID–19 outbreak, food insecurity was already a serious public health problem in Canada, impacting 12.7 percent of households. In recent years, activists, practitioners and researchers from a range of health–related disciplines, have debated the legitimacy of food banks and other charitable food programs, contending that policy and programs at the federal level must be prioritized to address the underlying root causes of poverty. This paper challenges the discourse that charitable food programs prevent or distract from Canada's social equity goals. Alternatively, this paper argues that programs and initiatives at the local level can emerge to bring short–term stability and self–sufficiency to local communities while also advocating for longer–term structural change. Drawing upon structuration theory and critical ecologies of anti–Black racism, we examine the work of BlackFoodToronto, a food sovereignty initiative, to illustrate the negotiation of power and agency, and how groups and networks react to and reshape confining and enabling structures through collaborative practice. In addressing Canada's food security crisis, this paper offers an alternative perspective of community–based, nonprofit and charitable programs, which in practice, can help inform future food security policy and related health equity and community development strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This research examines the implementation of the Icelandic Prevention Model (IPM) in Canada to identify opportunities revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic to re-design our social eco-system to promote wellbeing. This paper has two objectives: 1) to provide a conceptual review of research that applies the bioecological model to youth substance use prevention with a focus on the concepts of time and physical space use and 2) to describe a case study that examines the implementation of the IPM in Canada within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Study data were collected through semistructured qualitative interviews with key stakeholders involved in implementing the IPM. Results: Findings are organized within three over-arching themes derived from a thematic analysis: 1) Issues that influence time and space use patterns and youth substance use, 2) Family and community cohesion and influences on developmental context and time use and 3) Opportunities presented by the pandemic that can promote youth wellbeing. Conclusion: We apply the findings to research on the IPM as well as the pandemic to examine opportunities that may support primary prevention and overall youth wellbeing. We use the concepts of time and space as a foundation to discuss implications for policy and practice going forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While Canada has had relatively high vaccination rates against COVID-19, specifically during earlier waves of the pandemic, vaccine hesitancy has continued to serve as a significant barrier to adequate protection against the virus and, more recently, booster vaccine uptake. This paper explores the processes underlying Canadians' perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines and their decisions to take or refuse them, as well as how public policy and health messaging about vaccination has influenced vaccination attitudes and behaviors. Our focus group interviews with 18 vaccinated and unvaccinated adult Canadians conducted during October 2021 reveal that, in some respects, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy conforms to prior knowledge about some of the factors that affect vaccine attitudes (e.g., the influence of known medical providers) but deviates from current theoretical frameworks regarding general vaccine hesitancy. Specifically, these frameworks emphasize a lack of scientific knowledge and literacy ("knowledge deficit" accounts) or individuals' inability to incorporate rational risk perceptions into initial emotional responses to vaccines ("emotionality/irrationality" accounts). In contrast to the knowledge deficit account, we find that expressions of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy were most frequently associated with an information surplus or inability to prioritize information from multiple and often contradictory sources. Furthermore, top-down pro-vaccination messaging often triggered significant pushback against what participants perceived as moral shaming of the unvaccinated. Our findings demonstrate the necessity for a new framework to understand and address vaccine hesitancy. A better theoretical account of vaccine hesitancy has important implications for future vaccination efforts, specifically within the context of new variants and low booster vaccination rates in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the longitudinal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on older adults (65+) with multimorbidity on levels of depression, anxiety, and perceived global impact on their lives. Baseline (2011–2015) and Follow-up 1 (2015–2018) data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), and the Baseline and Exit waves of the CLSA COVID-19 study (April–December, 2020) (n = 18,099). Multimorbidity was measured using: a) an additive scale of chronic conditions; and b) six chronic disease clusters. Linear Mixed Models were employed to test hypotheses. Number of chronic conditions pre-pandemic was associated with pandemic levels of depression (estimate = 0.40, 95% CI: [0.37,0.44]); anxiety (estimate = 0.20, 95% CI: [0.18, 0.23]); and perceived negative impact of the pandemic (OR = 1.04, 95% CI: [1.02, 1.06]). The associations between multimorbidity and anxiety decreased during the period of the COVID-19 surveys (estimate = −0.02, 95% CI: [−0.05, −0.01]); whereas the multimorbidity association with perceived impact increased (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: [1.01, 1.05]). This study demonstrates that pre-pandemic multimorbidity conditions are associated with worsening mental health. Clinicians treating mental health of older adults need to consider the joint effects of multimorbidity conditions and pandemic experiences to tailor counseling and other treatment protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the paradoxes of hailing health care workers as "Covid-19 heroes" in Canada and the United Kingdom. We ask how public discourses—primarily by governments, politicians, mainstream media, but also by racially minoritized groups and migrant-led associations—frame the ambiguous social and legal status of mostly women of color "essential" health care workers during the pandemic. We argue that hailing is a form of conditional inclusion. Hailing involves both the camouflaging of individuals' low-class status, precarious position in the workplace, gendered and racially minoritized positionality and insecure/non-permanent immigration status on the one hand, as well as the potential for resistance, emancipation, wider organizing, and claims-making on the other. Through a focus on Filipino/a workers because of their high levels of representation as health care staff in both contexts, our empirical analysis underlines that hailing as conditional inclusion is asymmetrical and unequal. It enables co-optation and deflection from structural inequalities as the price of conditional inclusion of selected individuals and groups. However, at the same time, hailing generates resistance. Through "tiny openings" these contradictions are named, and the binary language of inclusion/exclusion is challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we contribute to the emerging literature on the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the gender gap in research productivity. We extend previous studies by considering men and women academics from science and non-science disciplines through an analysis of data from academics at 14 universities across two countries (seven in Australia and seven in Canada) and focusing on the role of primary caregiving. Our empirical approach used logistic regressions and the Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition technique. The latter enabled us to ask: 'How much of the gender gap in perceived productivity during the pandemic is due to gender differences in primary care responsibilities?' Within the sample (N = 2,817) of academics, 33% of women and 25% of men reported that their perceived publication ability decreased a lot during the pandemic. This is an eight percentage-point gender gap in perceived publication ability. Statistical analysis revealed that two-fifths (40%) of this gap may be explained by gender differences in having primary responsibility for the care of children. Gender differences in other characteristics such as age, discipline, and increased teaching and administrative work were not, as a group, significant. There were also no differences between Australia and Canada. The findings are important, particularly for the pursuit of gender equality within academia. In the absence of specific mitigating interventions, research disruptions in 2020 may have long-lasting career scarring effects (e.g. hiring, promotion, tenure) and, as a result, see women further disadvantaged within the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I draw on my research and experience as a disability ethics educator and advocate in order to demonstrate that both Canada􀂶s COVID-19 response and its expansion of eligibility for MAID are symptoms of the medical and systemic ableism that afflicts Canadian society. I conclude with a consideration of the enduring danger that eugenic ableism disguised as autonomy poses for people with disabilities in a Canada where COVID-19 may be waning, but where the contagion of ableism turned lethal through MAID continues to spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use intersectionality-based policy analysis (IBPA) to examine how COVID-19 income support policies enacted in Ontario, Canada, affected people living with poverty. We find that the privileging of formal labor market attachment in eligibility requirements systemically excluded constituencies most likely to be living with poverty. More broadly, these exclusions represent a retrenchment of neoliberal logics in social policy, and the rejection of universal social welfare programs. In conclusion, we suggest that the experiences of people living with poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic further highlight the need for comprehensive social welfare programs, including a universal basic income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) has created a worldwide deadly pandemic that has become a major public health challenge. All semi-urgent and elective medical care has come to a halt to conserve capacity to care for patients during this pandemic. As the numbers of COVID-19 cases decrease across Canada, our healthcare system also began to reopen various facilities and medical offices. The aim for this document is to compile the current evidence and provide expert consensus on the safe return to clinic practice in Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. These recommendations will also summarize general precaution principles and practical tips for office across Canada to optimize patient and provider safety. Risk assessment and patient selection are crucial to minimizing exposure to COVID-19. Controversial topics such as COVID-19 mode of transmission, duration of exposure, personal protective equipment, and aerosol-generating procedures will be analyzed and discussed. Practical solutions of pre-visit office preparation, front office and examination room set-up, and check out procedures are explored. Specific considerations for audiology, pediatric population, and high risk AGMPs are also addressed. Given that the literature surrounding COVID-19 is rapidly evolving, these guidelines will serve to start our specialty back into practice over the next weeks to months and they may change as we learn more about this disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the resilience of Canadian cities to the 2020 economic crisis that followed the 2019 coronavirus pandemic. It specifically investigates the resistance and recoverability (i.e., very short‐term recovery) dimensions of resilience. It reveals that Canadian cities exhibited heterogeneous resiliency to the crisis, resulting in economic restructuring. Further, the paper decomposed resilience into an industrial mix effect and local‐specific effect using a shift‐share analysis, to move away from the industrial‐structure dominated focus in the resilience literature by examining the influence of local‐specific effects. The analysis found that local‐specific effects played a dominant role in determining the resiliency of cities, while their industrial mix had a marginal influence. Moreover, the determinants of resilience are complex having different effects and functions depending on the dimension of resilience under examination. Also, the determinants of resilience may change depending on the type of shock cities experience. A key policy implication is that localities' capabilities largely determine their resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systemic disruptions from COVID-19 have transformed the assessment landscape in Canada and across the world. Alongside repeated shifts to emergency remote teaching, large-scale assessments and summative evaluations were cancelled in many jurisdictions, and repeated concerns were raised about ensuring equity and access to quality education. This paper investigates the rapid – and in many cases innovative – responses teachers offered to these challenges at the height of the pandemic. Drawing on prolonged semi-structured interviews with 17 secondary school teachers in Ontario, Canada, the paper provides a detailed account of Ontario's approach to assessment during COVID-19, exemplified by participants' lived experiences. Results highlight the notion of emergency remote assessment, the vital role of assessment in stemming widening equity and well-being gaps, and emerging consequences from this period. These data offer critical insights into the future of our forever-changed education landscape, and position classroom assessment as a priority player in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The integration of Primary Care (PC) into broader health systems has been a goal in jurisdictions around the world. Efforts to achieve integration at the meso-level have drawn particular attention, but there are few actionable recommendations for how to enact a 'pro-integration culture' amongst government and PC governance bodies. This paper describes pragmatic integration activity undertaken by meso-level participants in Alberta, Canada, and suggests ways this activity may be generalizable to other health systems. Methods: 11 semi-structured interviews with nine key informants from meso-level organizations were selected from a larger qualitative study examining healthcare policy development and implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Selected interviews focused on participants' experiences and efforts to 'do' integration as they responded to Alberta's first wave of the Omicron variant in September 2021. An interpretive descriptive approach was used to identify repeating cycles in the integration context, and pragmatic integration activities. Results: As Omicron arrived in Alberta, integration and relations between meso-level PC and central health system participants were tense, but efforts to improve the situation were successfully made. In this context of cycling relationships, staffing changes made in reaction to exogenous shocks and political pressures were clear influences on integration. However, participants also engaged in specific behaviours that advanced a pro-integration culture. They did so by: signaling value through staffing and resource choices; speaking and enacting personal and group commitments to collaboration; persevering; and practicing bi-directional communication through formal and informal channels. Conclusions: Achieving PC integration involves not just the reactive work of responding to exogenous factors, but also the proactive work of enacting cultural, relationship, and communication behaviors. These behaviors may support integration regardless of the shocks, staff turnover, and relational freeze-thaw cycles experienced by any health system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Previous research has evaluated the sources of post-secondary student stress, but has failed to explore whether stressors fluctuate over time. The purpose of this research was to use the Post-Secondary Student Stressors Index to examine whether stressors changed significantly and meaningfully over the course of an academic year. Due to the timing of data collection, results also provide context around students' experiences of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Cross-sectional data was collected at 3 time points via online surveys over the course of the 2020–2021 academic year from >10,000 students. Participants attended 15 post-secondary institutions across Canada, representing 9 provinces and 1 territory. Validated instruments were used to assess levels of stress, distress and the severity of student-specific stressors. Kruskal–Wallis ranked tests and multiple pairwise comparison analyses were conducted to assess whether the mean severity of stressors changed over time. Standard effect sizes were calculated using Cohen's d. Results: Mean levels of stress and psychological distress were high at the start of the study and remained high across time points. A similarly high level of stress was observed on average for student-specific stressors. While significant differences in mean severity were observed over time for some stressors, standardized effect sizes were negligible, suggesting little meaningful change and consistent levels of chronic stress over the course of the academic year. Conclusions: This is the first paper to examine trends in student-specific stress using a nationwide sample of Canadian post-secondary students during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patterns observed in student-specific stressors reflected changes likely to be indicative of the pandemic, including the most severe stress associated with academics, finances and concerns for the future. Implications for future research are discussed, in particular, the importance of examining stressors related to COVID-19 and their impact on student mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems play a crucial role in either increasing or decreasing the risk of airborne disease transmission. High ventilation, for instance, is a common method used to control and reduce the infection risk of airborne diseases such as COVID-19. On the other hand, high ventilation will increase energy consumption and cost. This paper proposes an optimal HVAC controller to assess the trade-off between energy consumption and indoor infection risk of COVID-19. To achieve this goal, a nonlinear model predictive controller (NMPC) is designed to control the HVAC systems of a university building to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission while reducing building energy consumption. The NMPC controller uses dynamic models to predict future outputs while meeting system constraints. To this end, a set of dynamic physics-based models are created to capture heat transfer and conservation of mass, which are used in the NMPC controller. Then, the developed models are experimentally validated by conducting experiments in the ETLC building at the University of Alberta, Canada. A classroom in the building is equipped with a number of sensors to measure indoor and outdoor environmental parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, and CO 2 concentration. The validation results show that the model can predict room temperature and CO 2 concentration by 0.8%, and 2.4% mean absolute average errors, respectively. Based on the validated models, the NMPC controller is designed to calculate the optimal airflow and supply air temperature for every 15 min. The results for real case studies show that the NMPC controller can reduce the infection risk of COVID-19 transmission below 1% while reducing energy consumption by 55% when compared to the existing building controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic is the mandate to stay home and practice physical distancing. In Canada, with essential activities such as grocery shopping, outdoor exercise and transportation, people need to be able to safely navigate dense, urban spaces while staying at least two metres or six feet apart. This pandemic has exacerbated the health inequities across neighbourhoods in cities like Toronto, Canada which are often segregated along racial and income lines. These inequities impact who has access to urban infrastructure that promotes health and quality of life. Safety in a time of COVID-19 goes beyond just exposure to the virus, it is complicated by notions of who belongs where, and who has access to what resources. The built environment has a role in maintaining and promoting physical and mental health during this pandemic and beyond it. This paper puts forwards three considerations for built environment interventions to promote health equitably: (i) addressing structural determinants of health and embedding anti-racist intersectional principles, (ii) revisiting tactical urbanism as a health promotion tool and (iii) rethinking community engagement processes through equity-based placemaking. This paper outlines four built environment interventions in Toronto, Canada that seek to address the challenges in navigating urban space safely in the short term, including street design that prioritizes pedestrians, protected cycling infrastructure, access to inclusive green space and safe, affordable housing. Longer-term strategies to create health-promoting urban environments that are equitable are discussed and may be valuable to other cities with similar urban equity concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The COVID‐19 pandemic has had an impact on all aspects of the health system. Little is known about how the activities and experiences of patient, family and caregiver partners, as a large group across a variety of settings within the health system, changed due to the substantial health system shifts catalysed by the pandemic. This paper reports on the results of a survey that included questions about this topic. Methods: Canadian patient, family and caregiver partners were invited to participate in an online anonymous survey in the Fall of 2020. A virtual snowballing approach to recruitment was used. Survey invitations were shared on social media and emailed to health system and governmental organizations with the request that they share the survey with patient partners. This paper focuses on responses to two questions related to patient partner experiences during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Results: The COVID‐19 questions were completed by 533 respondents. Over three quarters of respondents (77.9%, n = 415) indicated their patient engagement activities had been impacted by COVID‐19. The majority (62.5%, n = 230) experienced at least a temporary or partial reduction in their patient engagement activities. Some respondents did see increases in their patient engagement activities (11.4%, n = 42). Many respondents provided insights into their experience with virtual platforms for engagement (n = 194), most expressed negative or mixed experiences with this shift. Conclusions: This study provides a snapshot of Canadian patient, family and caregiver partners' perspectives on the impact of COVID‐19 on their engagement activities. Understanding how engagement unfolded during a crisis is critical for our future planning if patient engagement is to be fully integrated into the health system. Identifying how patient partners were engaged and not engaged during this time period, as well as the benefits and challenges of virtual engagement opportunities, offers instructive lessons for sustaining patient engagement, including the supports needed to engage with a more diverse set of patient, family and caregiver partners. Patient Contribution: Patient partners were important members of the Canadian Patient Partner Study research team. They were engaged from the outset, participating in all stages of the research project. Additional patient partners were engaged to develop and pilot test the survey, and all survey respondents were patient, family or caregiver partners. The manuscript is coauthored by two patient partners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: East Toronto Health Partners (ETHP) is a network of organizations that serve residents of East Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ETHP is a newly formed integrated model of care in which hospital, primary care, community providers and patients/ families work together to improve population health. We describe and evaluate the evolution of this emerging integrated care system as it responded to a global health crisis. Description: This paper begins by describing ETHP’s pandemic response mapping out over two years of data. To evaluate the response, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 decision makers, clinicians, staff, and volunteers who were part of the response. The interviews were thematically analyzed, and emergent themes mapped onto the nine pillars of integrated care. Discussion: The ETHP pandemic response evolved rapidly. Early siloed responses gave way to collaborative efforts and equity emerged as a central priority. New alliances formed, resources were shared, leaders emerged, and community members stepped forward to contribute. Interviewees identified positives as well as many opportunities for improvement post-pandemic. Conclusion: The pandemic was a catalyst for change in East Toronto that accelerated existing initiatives to achieve integrated care. The East Toronto experience may serve as a useful guide for other emerging integrated care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The increased scrutiny on public health brought upon by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic provides a strong impetus for a renewal of public health systems. This paper seeks to understand priorities of public health decision-makers for reforms to public health financing, organization, interventions, and workforce. Methods: We used an online 3-round real-time Delphi method of reaching consensus on priorities for public health systems reform. Participants were recruited among individuals holding senior roles in Canadian public health institutions, ministries of health and regional health authorities. In Round 1, participants were asked to rate 9 propositions related to public health financing, organization, workforce, and interventions. Participants were also asked to contribute up to three further ideas in relation to these topics in open-ended format. In Rounds 2 and 3, participants re-appraised their ratings in the view of the group's ratings in the previous round. Results: Eighty-six public health senior decision-makers from various public health organizations across Canada were invited to participate. Of these, 25/86 completed Round 1 (29% response rate), 19/25 completed Round 2 (76% retention rate) and 18/19 completed Round 3 (95% retention rate). Consensus (defined as more than 70% of importance rating) was achieved for 6 out of 9 propositions at the end of the third round. In only one case, the consensus was that the proposition was not important. Proposition rated consensually important relate to targeted public health budget, time frame for spending this budget, and the specialization of public health structures. Both interventions related and not related to the COVID-19 pandemic were judged important. Open-ended comments further highlighted priorities for renewal in public health governance and public health information management systems. Conclusion: Consensus emerged rapidly among Canadian public health decision-makers on prioritizing public health budget and time frame for spending. Ensuring that public health services beyond COVID-19 and communicable disease are maintained and enhanced is also of central importance. Future research shall explore potential trade-offs between these priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This paper looks at changes in weight, physical activity, and food/dietary intake during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in undergraduate students enrolled in a Canadian university. The investigation used an online survey format to collect data at the end of the two lockdown periods over one year. Participants were recruited from universities across Canada. The results show a modest weight gain accompanied by a decrease in physical activity and an unhealthy change in diet. Specifically, students reported that their engagement in specific physical activities and overall activity levels decreased during the lockdowns. The number of calories also decreased over time, while the foods consumed decreased in nutritional value. Thus, the modest weight gain observed may have resulted from the decrease in physical activity and diet quality. In conclusion, Canadian food and physical activity recommendations were not met during the lockdowns caused by the pandemic, which highlights the physical and nutritional implications of confinement. This study examined changes in body mass and body mass index (BMI), physical activity, and dietary intake in Canadian university students during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two self-reported recall surveys were conducted: after the first lockdown in September 2020 (T1) and following the second lockdown in March 2021 (T2). Eligible participants were full-time undergraduate students attending a Canadian university and residing in Canada during the first year of the pandemic. At T1, 510 students (99 male, 411 female) completed the survey, and of those, 135 (32 males, 103 females) completed the survey at T2 (73% attrition). At both T1 and T2, most participants were 18–24 years of age (93% and 90%, respectively), Caucasian (73% and 78%, respectively), and resided in the province of Ontario (79% and 80%, respectively). Body mass increased from T1 to T2 (+0.91 ± 3.89 kg t(132) = −2.7, p = 0.008). BMI also increased from T1 to T2 (+0.30 ± 1.33 kg/m2 [t(130) = −2.5, p = 0.012), with a greater number of participants within the overweight range (19.8% versus 24.4%, respectively). At T1, 38% of the participants reported a decrease in physical activity, while the number of students reporting a decrease in activity increased to 56% at T2. Dietary energy intake decreased from 1678 ± 958 kcal/day at T1 to 1565 ± 842 kcal/day at T2 [c2(1) = 7.2, p = 0.007]. Diet quality also decreased, with participants not meeting the recommended daily allowance for essential macro and micronutrients. A decrease was observed in daily servings of fruits (−27%, p < 0.001), vegetables (−72%, p < 0.001), and grains (−68%, p < 0.001). In conclusion, despite a small decrease in dietary energy intake, a modest weight gain occurred during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in this cohort of Canadian university students, which was potentially related to decreased physical activity and diet quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on insights in feminist economic geography to critically review the literature on work in the home and provide a starting point for examining COVID‐19 pandemic‐imposed work from home measures for tertiary and quaternary sector firms and organizations. It critically reviews literature on the pandemic, working from home, and work in general, to examine lockdown‐related workplace disruptions in relation to the various forms of work that took place in the home prior to the pandemic. It argues that feminist economic geography provides a starting point for examinations of working from home during and after COVID‐19. This situates writing on social reproduction, and informal and unpaid work in the home, within the purview of our understanding of pandemic response. Following this review, the paper demonstrates this argument by interrogating Canada's "telework capacity" discourse and the decisions by white‐collar offices regarding the continuation and abatement of "digital by default" policies. The pandemic will radically shift our understanding of the meanings of both home and work, and this paper, through a critical review of key literature, suggests that feminist economic geography provides one starting point for theorizing the implications of that shift in the Canadian context. Key Messages: The COVID‐19 pandemic stands to alter work‐life conditions for households in ways that transform the role and meaning of both home and work. Feminist economic geography helps us to understand shifts to working from home in light of the COVID‐19 pandemic. An interrogation of "telework capacity" and "digital by default" reveals the various assumptions built into these discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of immigrant health workers in OECD nations, and intensified debates about the current and future supply and distribution of such workers, particularly nurses. This review paper considers internationally educated nurses in the case of Ontario, Canada, and the policy responses developed during the pandemic to address the increased utilization of immigrant health workers. To further consider the evolving place of migrant workers within health, the broader issue of the future of health care work is examined to imagine what a sustainable and resilient health workforce agenda that integrates internationally educated nurses might look like. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the experiences during COVID-19 of mothers who have young children, are survivors of domestic violence and who share parenting to highlight the further unsafe situations survivors of violence and their children were placed in during the pandemic. Part of a larger mixed methods study, these participants (n = 19) from three Canadian provinces, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, engaged in virtual individual one-on-one interviews via zoom. Using thematic analysis, four themes emerged from the data: 1) increased use of coercive controlling behaviors; 2) fear of the unknown; 3) lack of supports; and, 4) finding balance. Direct quotes are used to highlight the meaning of each theme. We outline the challenges these women have that are in addition to those experienced by many during COVID-19 times (increased stress, isolation, disconnect from supports, financial challenges). These include managing the shared parenting arrangements with a former abusive partner who used the pandemic as a further opportunity for coercive controlling behaviors under the guise of the public health order. The mothers were left to manage the difficult exchanges with a former abusive partner and unknown circumstances of the pandemic without guidance and support from legal actors. There will need to be a prioritization of the safety of mothers and their children in post-divorce parenting arrangements both during times of a community lockdown such as during the pandemic and also during non-pandemic times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has been pervasive in its impact on all aspects of Canadian society. Along with its pervasiveness, the disease provided unprecedented complexity to the Canadian healthcare infrastructure, eliciting varying responses from the afflicted healthcare systems in Canada. However, insights into the various parameters and complexities endured by Canadian rural physicians and rural healthcare institutions during the pandemic have been scarce. Objective: This paper explores the conditions and complexity of living and working of Rural Family Physicians (RFPs) in rural healthcare in Canada during the pandemic. Methods: Community-based participatory research was utilized as a collaborative and partnership approach, equitably engaged community members in all aspects of research, ranging from designing the research question to analyzing data. Participants of this study include RFPs with at least one year of experience working in rural Canada. Data were collected through telephone interviews and analyzed according to the six-phase guide for the data's inductive thematic analysis. Data collection halted upon saturation. Results: Five significant compiled categories reflect the lived experiences of Rural Family Physicians. 1- virtual care as a challenge or forward progress; 2- canceling in-person visits and interrupting the routine; 3- shortage of health care providers and supporting staff; 4-ongoing coping process with the pandemic guidelines; 5-COVID-19 combat fatigue. Discussion: The inception of COVID-19 has significantly impacted rural physicians across several interconnected issues. This study illuminates the lesser-known effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which heavily impacts rural healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed crucial flaws in Canada's immigration systems. While the majority of newcomers to Canada reside in urban centres, a substantial minority work and live in rural areas and small towns where crucial immigrant services are far less developed and greater geographical distances hinder efforts to support immigrants. Rural immigrants face distinct challenges, including increased social isolation and economic marginalization, which have only been amplified by the pandemic. Furthermore, the inaccurate perception of immigration as an exclusively urban issue hinders efforts to combat these problems. Building on rural immigration literature, this paper examines the ways in which the pandemic has impacted rural immigrants, including newcomers, refugees, and temporary foreign workers. Findings highlighted include the difficulty of providing immigrant support services in rural areas, the vulnerability of migrant farm workers to illness and isolation, and the lack of awareness and funding for immigration issues in rural areas relative to their urban counterparts. The paper draws on journalism and academic literature from the past year into these issues. In doing so, it demonstrates the need for renewed academic, policy, and rural development practice interests in rural immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 had an unprecedented impact on transit demand and usage. Stiff and vigilant hygiene safety requirements changed travellers' mode choice preferences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, transit modal share is radically impacted. Therefore, quantitative measurements on transit demand impact are urgently needed to facilitate evidence-based policy responses to COVID-19. Thus, we collected 1000 random samples through a web-based survey in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada, on traveler's modal choices behavior during the COIVD-19 pandemic. The paper presents an analysis with this firsthand dataset to understand transit users' behavioral adaptation resulting from the spreading of COVID-19 in 2020. We found that the transit frequency dropped by 21% to 71% for various socioeconomic groups in the GTA during the pandemic. The transit modal share dipped for all trip purposes. For private vehicle owners, around 70% of transit users switched to their private vehicles. More than 60% of those without cars switched to active transport for all travel purposes. Also, ride-hailing services are the second most popular substitution of transit for them. More than 80% of the respondents agreed with all transit safety policies, such as mandatory face-covering listed in the survey. Moreover, a similar proportion of the respondents agreed to return to public transit in the future. Multinomial, nested, and mixed logit models are estimated to capture relationships between modal choices and various factors. We found that the daily number of new COVID-19 cases impacts the choice of transit negatively. However, vaccine availability and mandatory face-covering onboard positively affect travellers' choices of riding transit during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Social adversity experiences have increased during the pandemic and are potential risk factors for both depression and support for violent radicalization (VR). However, the cumulative and independent effects of various social adversity experiences on support for VR have yet to be explored. This paper examines the cumulative and independent effects of COVID- and non-COVID-related discrimination, exposure to violence, traditional and cyberbullying victimization on support for VR. In addition, we investigate whether depression mediates the relationship between these forms of social adversity and support for VR. Methods: A total of 6003 young adults (Mage = 27, SDage = 4.40, range 18–35) living in metropolitan areas in Canada responded to an online survey. We used multivariable regression models, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics, to infer covariate adjusted associations between social adversity measures and support for VR. Additionally, we conducted a formal mediation analysis to estimate the proportion mediated by depression. Results: There was a cumulative relationship between experiences of social adversity and support for VR (β = 1.52; 95% CI: 1.32, 1.72). COVID-related discrimination and cyberbullying victimization were independently associated with stronger support for VR. Depression partially mediated the effect of cumulative social adversity, COVID-related discrimination and cyberbullying on support for VR. Conclusion: Prevention programs during the present pandemic should prioritize decreasing discrimination and providing psychosocial support to depressed young adults who experience social adversity. Practitioners should prioritize developing programs that foster digital literacy skills and critical thinking among young adults to address the concerning impact of cyberbullying on support for VR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Canada, 84% of COVID-19 related deaths have been in long-term care (LTC) homes, making the proportion of Canadian COVID-19 deaths double the average of all other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to date. This paper attempts to examine how such a devastating proportion of LTC residents could have become the victims of the virus in a country which openly proclaims to have successfully flattened the curve of the virus. This paper examines this question by drawing on Agamben's figure of the Muselmann and his thinking about the relation between the state of exception to the rule; specifically, how each secretly institutes each other. In particular, Thobani's and Weheliye's rethinkings of the Muselmann as the site of racialized logics and assemblages are mobilized to illuminate the techniques used to script the bodies of these LTC residents as bare life so their suffering and deaths come be seen as natural and expected in an ever-extending state of emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International retirement migration involves the seasonal relocation of older adults to destinations abroad. For Canadians, this is typically done to escape winter at home in favour of warmer weather elsewhere. In this paper, we explore how Canadian newspapers chronicled the changes associated with managing the COVID‐19 pandemic in Canada, including border measures and calls to avoid non‐essential travel, and how they impacted international retirement migrants and their movements. We specifically present the findings of a framing analysis conducted of 187 newspaper articles published in 2020, identified through the Canadian Newsstream Database. The framing analysis identified three ways in which Canadian international retirement migrants were discussed in relation to the pandemic and the changed spatio‐temporal realities that affected their transnational movements. First, they are a group who altered their consumer practices, which had economic impacts at home and in their usual seasonal destinations. Second, they are a group who faced considerable uncertainty with regard to travel and movement, among other things, as the pandemic unfolded in 2020. Finally, Canadian international retirement migrants sought stability in a number of ways, both in terms of their social networks and living arrangements at home and abroad. Key Messages: The lives and seasonal movements of Canadian international retirement migrants were greatly impacted by the COVID‐19 pandemic and measures put in place to manage the spread of the virus.Newspaper coverage of Canadian international retirement migrants from 2020 framed them as altering consumer practices, facing uncertainties, and seeking stability in response.These responses form an interesting dualism because the COVID‐19 pandemic introduced both challenges and opportunities for Canadian international retirement migrants in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: COVID-19 has significant impact on long-term care (LTC) residents and staff. The purpose of this paper is to report the data gathered during a COVID-19 outbreak in a Canadian LTC home regarding staff experiences, challenges, and needs, to offer lessons learned and implications. Methods: A total of 30 staff from multiple disciplines participated in the study, including nurses, care workers, recreational staff, and a unit clerk. Focus groups (n = 20) and one-on-one interviews (n = 10) were conducted as part of a larger participatory action research (PAR) study in a Canadian LTC home. All data collection was conducted virtually via Zoom, and thematic analysis was performed to identify themes. Results: Four main themes were identified: We are Proud, We Felt Anxious, We Grew Closer to Residents and Staff Members, and The Vaccines Help. Conclusions: This research details the resilience that characterizes staff in LTC, while highlighting the emotional toll of the pandemic, particularly during an outbreak. LTC staff in this study found innovative ways to connect and support residents and this resulted in stronger connections and relationships. Leadership and organizational support are pivotal for supporting team resilience to manage crisis and adapt positively in times of COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the period of outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of childcare to national economies in general and women's economic participation in particular, spurring renewed interest in childcare policy in many countries that have implemented lockdowns. This paper adopts a circle of care framework to analyzes how COVID‐19 has affected paid childcare, unpaid childcare and other paid work, and the relationship between these sectors. Analysis is grounded in the lived experiences of parents and childcare educators, documented through 16 semi‐structured interviews during the initial lockdown (March–June 2020) in British Columbia, Canada. Experiences from educators suggest their safety was not prioritized, and that their contributions were undervalued and went unrecognized. Mothers, who provided the majority of unpaid care, not only lost income due to care demands, but struggled to access necessities, with some reporting increased personal insecurity. Those attempting to work from home also experienced feelings of guilt and distress as they tried to manage the triple burden. Similarities of experiences across the circle of care suggest the COVID‐19 childcare policy response in BC Canada downloaded care responsibilities on to women without corresponding recognition or support, causing women to absorb the costs of care work, with potential long‐term negative effects on women's careers and well‐being, as well as on the resilience of the circle of care. Pandemic recovery and preparedness policies that aim to promote gender equality must consider all sectors of the circle of care and the relationships between them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an integrative (or braided) approach to Indigenous youth mental health, designed in response to a synthesis of knowledge from three systematic literature reviews and four informant consultations with mental health providers in various disciplines. The braided approach includes core principles of Indigenous Healing models (IH), Child and Youth Care (CYC) approaches, and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) practices. The purpose of this approach is to best serve the mental and spiritual health needs of Indigenous youth across Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings of this research project informed the design and implementation of an online Indigenous youth mental health program, which is discussed in relation to the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened and made visible the embodied consequences of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) inequalities and the relationalities of health in place. This paper combines insights from relational geographies and embodied epidemiology to explore psychosocial concerns among Ghanaian migrants in Canada due to their multiple and simultaneous roles in the WASH space in Ghana, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We explored this using narratives from in-depth interviews with 27 participants (16 women and 11 men) residing in Ontario, Canada. The case of Ghana offers insight into how social ties with home communities could provide a safety net during emergencies but could also affect the psychosocial wellbeing of migrants. Results revealed four interrelated psychosocial stressors, including social stressors, financial stressors, stressors related to perceived inequality and stressors related to the fear of infection during WASH access. The paper underscores the urgent need for research to move beyond local health implications of WASH inequalities and begin to prioritize how these social inequalities are embodied at distant locations. • The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the global health interconnectedness • Embodied subjectivities of WASH insecurity span across space and time • Migrants embody multidimensional WASH psychosocial stressors because of their social connections with home • Policy responses must address WASH subjectivities beyond the local [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Public health services and systems research is under-developed in Canada and this is particularly the case with respect to research on local public health unit operational functioning and capacity. The purpose of this paper is to report on a study that will collect retrospective information on the local public health response to COVID-19 throughout Canada between 2020 and 2021. Methods/Design: The goal of the study is to develop and implement a study framework that will collect retrospective information on the local public health system response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. This study will involve administering a mixed-method survey to Medical Health Officers/Medical Officers of Health in every local and regional public health unit across the country, followed by a process of coding and grouping these responses in a consistent and comparable way. Coded responses will be assessed for patterns of divergent or convergent roles and approaches of local public health across the country with respect to interventions in their response to COVID-19. The Framework Method of thematic analysis will be applied to assess the qualitative answers to the open-ended questions that speak to public health policy features. Discussion: The strengths of the study protocol include the engagement of Medical Health Officers/Medical Officers of Health as research partners and a robust integrated knowledge translation approach to further public health services and systems research in Canada. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the approach adopted at Statistics Canada to produce timely and accurate estimates of excess mortality during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses primarily on the two models involved in the estimation of excess mortality: the model used to estimate the expected number of deaths in the absence of the pandemic (baseline mortality), and the model used to adjust provisional death counts for undercoverage. We describe both, including how the models were adapted to fit our specific criteria as well as the various limitations they both possess. We conclude by presenting selected results from Statistics Canada's official release of excess mortality estimates from February 8 th , 2021. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 global pandemic has disrupted economies around the world, and rural Canada is no exception. In this paper, we explore the economic development impacts of the pandemic on rural communities across Canada. We seek to provide a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of how rural communities have responded to this crisis and the extent to which they are able to build long-term rural resilience through their responses and plans for recovery. To do so, we draw upon novel data derived from a survey of rural economic development practitioners from across Canada. Our findings are structured around three main themes: economic development and business impacts, economic development responses, and resources needed for recovery. The study highlights the geographic unevenness of impacts, responses, and resource needs to address the challenges introduced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, our research underscores the importance of capacity and context as rural economic development practitioners and other rural leaders have responded to these challenges. Finally, this research provides important insights into the tools and strategies that could build long-term rural resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural communities are often portrayed in the research literature and popular media as being disadvantaged and 'vulnerable'. This paper examines the extent to which rural health regions in Canada are more vulnerable than other health regions in terms of contracting COVID-19 and developing serious illness from this virus that leads to death. Data include published numbers of cases of and deaths from COVID-19 in each health region across Canada. Other data from Statistics Canada's Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) documents the higher rates of 'vulnerability' in rural health regions, according to (a) their socio-demographic conditions (income, education, age), and (b) the rates of 'underlying health conditions' which would make individuals more susceptible to serious illness from COVID-19. Despite these vulnerabilities, which are consistent with other research on rural areas in Canada, COVID-19 rates are found to be higher in metropolitan areas--although there is some variation in this pattern by province. In no provinces is the rate of death per case of COVID-19 highest in rural areas. Overall, in Canada, deaths per case from COVID-19 are higher in metropolitan than in rural health regions, challenging the notion of rural areas being only and always disadvantaged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender norms, roles and relations differentially affect women, men, and non-binary individuals' vulnerability to disease. Outbreak response measures also have immediate and long-term gendered effects. However, gender-based analysis of outbreaks and responses is limited by lack of data and little integration of feminist analysis within global health scholarship. Recognising these barriers, this paper applies a gender matrix methodology, grounded in feminist political economy approaches, to evaluate the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in four case studies: China, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UK. Through a rapid scoping of documentation of the gendered effects of the outbreak, it applies the matrix framework to analyse findings, identifying common themes across the case studies: financial discrimination, crisis in care, and unequal risks and secondary effects. Results point to transnational structural conditions which put women on the front lines of the pandemic at work and at home while denying them health, economic and personal security – effects that are exacerbated where racism and other forms of discrimination intersect with gender inequities. Given that women and people living at the intersections of multiple inequities are made additionally vulnerable by pandemic responses, intersectional feminist responses should be prioritised at the beginning of any crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: People experiencing homelessness are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of a pandemic, such as COVID-19. Therefore, governments across Canada have been implementing a patchwork of responses to address the needs of those who are homeless at this time. The purpose of this study is to both compile and assess the varying responses by exploring the breadth of actions presented in print and social media. Design/methodology/approach: Rapid review methodology is a means of compiling a breadth of information to compare and contrast policy implementations. Herein, the authors provide a comprehensive rapid review of responses to homelessness considered through a health equity lens. Findings: Based on policy implementations to date, the authors offer eight recommendations of potentially promising practices among these responses. Situated within a capabilities approach, the authors call upon governments to provide a full breadth of responses to ensure that both health and housing are better protected and obtained during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originality/value: This paper presents the first comprehensive review of local government responses to homelessness in the context of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working without fixity, while historically prevalent, has been on the rise in Canada and throughout the world due to processes associated with advanced capitalism. Moreover, it implies mobility to, from, and within work, which in a time of COVID-19, is problematic for workers and communities alike. In this paper, we argue that our pre-COVID statistical knowledge of workers without a fixed place of work in Canada is inadequate. Using the best source of available data--the 2016 Census--we provide a thorough account of these workers as compared to those with a set place of work. We find that most individuals without a fixed workplace are male, have low income, are likely to be self-employed, have a higher proportion of employment insurance (EI) and self-employment income, and have college or on-the-job training skill levels. They are also likely to live in rural areas, and work in the construction or transportation industry. We argue that documenting which workers are most likely to be working without fixity is necessary to understand how a COVID-19 world will play out for these workers and their communities as the pandemic continues and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review of social distancing measures deployed by transit agencies in the United States and Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses how specific operators across the two countries have implemented changes. Challenges and impacts on their operations are also provided. Social distancing is one of the community mitigation measures traditionally implemented during influenza pandemics and the novel coronavirus pandemic. Research has shown that social distancing is effective in containing the spread of disease. This is applicable to the current situation with the novel coronavirus, given the lack of effective vaccines and treatments in the United States and Canada in the first eight months of the pandemic. Moreover, social distancing is particularly useful in settings where community transmission is substantial. Directives for social distancing were issued in several states and public transit operators were charged with how to provide for physical distance of six feet between passengers on their property including physical infrastructure such as station buildings and rolling infrastructure (rolling stock) including trains, subway cars and buses. Operational changes were also required due to physical distancing, e.g. adding train cars to provide for opportunities to physically distance on the train. Examples of some measures discussed in this research includes taping off every other seat on buses, increasing the total length of trains by adding cars, separating bus drivers from passengers with plastic sheeting, rear door boarding, etc. This research also analyzes long-term impacts for transit operators and challenges to encourage passengers to return to public transit after lockdown requirements ordered by government officials are lifted. A section on the policies that are being explored by government to continue to sustain public transportation is also included. • We review the interventions deployed by public transit operators to comply with social distancing measures. • We explore operational changes recommended to facilitate physical distancing. • We analyze the impacts for transit operators and challenges for passengers to return to public transit post pandemic. • We discuss the challenges for transit to return to pre-pandemic conditions and some solutions explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore the economic activities of the food processing industry during the coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. One of the key lessons from food processing and related industries is that without being designated as an essential service and targeted stimulus packages, the food industry could have fallen victim to the COVID‐19 crisis. Although the social and economic impacts of the interventions are not clear, being designated as an essential service was likely far more important to the food industry than the targeted stimulus packages. The pandemic and shutdown orders had a considerable production reallocation effect. Some processors have seen temporary closure and reduced capacity utilization. On the upside, disruptions in the food processing sector have not been as severe as in non‐essential sectors. The food processing sector has proven to be relatively stable during the pandemic – food was still processed and delivered to consumers and food price increases were minimal in most cases given the scale of the shock. Moving forward, because COVID‐19 is a global crisis, internationally targeted and coordinated efforts to tackle the virus could place the industry on a strong trajectory towards economic recovery and growth. Résumé Dans cet article, j'explore les activités économiques de l'industrie de la transformation des aliments pendant la pandémie COVID‐19. L'une des principales leçons tirées de la transformation des aliments et des industries connexes est que sans être désignée comme un service essentiel et visée par des plans de relance ciblés, l'industrie alimentaire aurait pu être victime de la crise du COVID‐19. Bien que les impacts sociaux et économiques des interventions ne soient pas clairs, être désigné comme un service essentiel était probablement beaucoup plus important pour l'industrie alimentaire que les plans de relance ciblés. La pandémie et les ordres d'arrêt ont eu un effet considérable de réallocation de la production. Certains transformateurs ont connu des fermetures temporaires et une utilisation réduite de leurs capacités. Les perturbations dans le secteur de la transformation des aliments n'ont pas été aussi graves que dans les secteurs non essentiels. Le secteur de la transformation des aliments s'est avéré relativement stable pendant la pandémie ‐ les aliments étaient encore transformés et livrés aux consommateurs et les augmentations des prix des denrées alimentaires ont été minimes dans la plupart des cas compte tenu de l'ampleur du choc. À l'avenir, parce que le COVID‐19 est une crise mondiale, des efforts coordonnés et ciblés au niveau international pour lutter contre le virus pourraient placer l'industrie sur une trajectoire solide vers la reprise économique et la croissance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since December 2019, there has been a global explosion of research on COVID-19. In Canada, the six National Collaborating Centres (NCCs) for Public Health form one of the central pillars supporting evidence-informed decision making by gathering, synthesizing and translating emerging findings. Funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada and located across Canada, the six NCCs promote and support the use of scientific research and other knowledges to strengthen public health practice, programs and policies. This paper offers an overview of the NCCs as an example of public health knowledge mobilization in Canada and showcases the NCCs' contribution to the COVID-19 response while reflecting on the numerous challenges encountered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has led to large proportions of the labour market moving to remote work, while others have become unemployed. Those still at their physical workplace likely face increased risk of infection, compared to other workers. The objective of this paper is to understand the relationship between working arrangements, infection control programs (ICP), and symptoms of anxiety and depression among Canadian workers, not specifically working in healthcare. Methods A convenience-based internet survey of Canadian non-healthcare workers was facilitated through various labour organizations between April 26 and June 6, 2020. A total of 5180 respondents started the survey, of which 3779 were assessed as employed in a full-time or part-time capacity on 2 March 2020 (prior to large-scale COVID-19 pandemic responses in Canada). Of this sample, 3305 (87.5%) had complete information on main exposures and outcomes. Anxiety symptoms were measured using the Generalised Anxiety Disorder screener (GAD-2), and depressive symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire screener (PHQ-2). For workers at their physical workplace (site-based workers) we asked questions about the adequacy and implementation of 11 different types of ICP, and the adequacy and supply of eight different types of personal protective equipment (PPE). Respondents were classified as either: working remotely; site-based workers with 100% of their ICP/PPE needs met; site-based workers with 50–99% of ICP/PPE needs met; site-based workers with 1–49% of ICP/PPE needs met; site-based workers with none of ICP/PPE needs met; or no longer employed. Regression analyses examined the association between working arrangements and ICP/PPE adequacy and having GAD-2 and PHQ-2 scores of three and higher (a common screening point in both scales). Models were adjusted for a range of demographic, occupation, workplace, and COVID-19-specific factors. Results A total of 42.3% (95% CI: 40.6–44.0%) of the sample had GAD-2 scores of 3 and higher, and 34.6% (95% CI: 32.–36.2%) had PHQ-2 scores of 3 and higher. In initial analyses, symptoms of anxiety and depression were lowest among those working remotely (35.4 and 27.5%), compared to site-based workers (43.5 and 34.7%) and those who had lost their jobs (44.1 and 35.9%). When adequacy of ICP and PPE was taken into account, the lowest prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms was observed among site-based workers with all of their ICP needs being met (29.8% prevalence for GAD-2 scores of 3 and higher, and 23.0% prevalence for PHQ-2 scores of 3 and higher), while the highest prevalence was observed among site-based workers with none of their ICP needs being met (52.3% for GAD-2 scores of 3 and higher, and 45.8% for PHQ-2 scores of 3 and higher). Conclusion Our results suggest that the adequate design and implementation of employer-based ICP have implications for the mental health of site-based workers. As economies re-open the ongoing assessment of ICP and associated mental health outcomes among the workforce is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

National responses to COVID-19 depend in part on national health care financing arrangements. Yet the pandemic itself has not only strained system capacity, it has – through subsequent economic shocks – strained revenue sources that prop up these arrangements. In federal countries, fiscal pressures are particularly pronounced. As this paper argues, however, federal health financing regimes differ in ways that are shaping the agenda for post-pandemic reforms. The analysis, which focuses on health care financing in three federal countries (Canada, the United States, and Mexico), explores the current and potential future impact of COVID-19 on existing policy legacies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The new physical distancing rules have had many consequences, some of which are felt throughout the justice system. Courts across the world limited their operations. Nonetheless, given that justice delayed is justice denied, many jurisdictions have turned to technologies for urgent matters. This paper offers an evidence-based comment and caution for lawyers and judges who could be inclined, for concerns such as cost and time saving, to permanently step aside from in-person trials. Using nonverbal communication research, in conjunction with American and Canadian legal principles, we argue that such a decision could harm the integrity of the justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]