A CITF-funded study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, found that school staff who felt they were at higher risk of getting COVID-19 reported higher anxiety symptoms. Female school staff who perceived they had a higher risk of getting COVID-19 experienced higher levels of psychological distress and had lower levels of optimism.
A CITF-funded team studied the risk to grocery store, hardware store, bar, and restaurant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cohort profile preprint article, not yet peer-reviewed, describes participant demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural, clinical, and occupational characteristics, as well as whether participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, experienced any COVID-19 symptoms (where applicable), and were vaccinated.
A CITF-funded study, published in preprint and not yet peer-reviewed, found that vaccination was associated with higher neutralizing activity (the ability of antibodies to block entry of the virus into the cell) against pre-Omicron variants than against Omicron sub-lineages.
A CITF-funded study, published in Journal of Dental Research, reported low rates of psychological distress symptoms among Canadian dentists early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers did find that there was modest positive association between dentists’ stress levels, as measured through saliva hormone cortisol testing, and the number of COVID-19 cases in Canada.
A CITF-funded study, published in BMJ Open, found that despite frequent COVID-19 exposures, SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among school staff in the Vancouver area remained no greater than in the community reference group.
A CITF-funded study published in Frontiers in Public Health and led by Dr. Nadine Kronfli (McGill University Health Centre) showed that correctional officers were most likely to have acquired SARS-CoV-2 but least likely to be vaccinated when compared to all other correctional workers, underscoring the importance of addressing both occupational risks and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy to mitigate future outbreaks in the provincial prisons in Quebec.
A CITF-funded study now published in Microbiology Spectrum estimated rates of symptomatic and asymptomatic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among K-12 students and staff in British Columbia from April to June 2021.
A preprint, not yet peer-reviewed, from a CITF-funded study, suggests that the chances of adults getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 was lower in the school setting than it was in the community, even during the first Omicron wave.
New results from a CITF-funded study led by University of British Columbia researchers Drs. Pascal Lavoie and Louise Mâsse, and published in the Journal of Affective Disorders Reports indicates that 18.7% of school staff in Vancouver reported moderate to severe symptoms of anxiety.
Early in the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, virus transmission and the risk of infection among education workers was unclear. Upon studying this population in Ontario, CITF-funded researchers Drs. Brenda Coleman, Sharon Straus and Allison McGeer, from the University of Toronto, revealed that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission was significantly higher between people living in the same household than between people in work or other social situations. They emphasize that practicing protective measures when a household member has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 home would help reduce the risk of infection. Their results were recently published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.