Wednesday May 13, 2020 ~ BC
by Mary Brooke, B.Sc. ~ West Shore Voice News
With a degree of glee yesterday, Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry announced a survey by which British Columbians can provide detailed information their COVID-19 experience and opt to participate in a serology testing program to help determine overall immunity in the BC population.
“Every person in our province has been impacted by COVID-19 and the effects have been far reaching. The province-wide survey – Your story, our future – has been launched to hear about your experiences and actions in the COVID-19 pandemic so far,” said Dr Henry yesterday.
And today she was equally excited about the prospects of the survey results, in that over 75,000 people had already taken part in the survey online by noon today (though Health Minister Adrian Dix later said it was by 9 am today, May 13).
Accessing the Survey:
The survey can be accessed through the BC Centre for Disease Control website from May 12 to May 31, 2020:
http://www.bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/covid-19-survey
For those who cannot complete the survey online, or need assistance in another language, you can call 1 -33-707-1900 toll-free to take the survey over the phone. Assistance is available seven days a week between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m (Pacific time), in 150 languages. The survey works with Google Chrome, Safari and other modern browsers but not Internet Explorer.
Survey introduces ‘future initiatives’:
“The information gathered will help inform the decisions we make in the weeks ahead,” said Dr Henry, being excited about the opportunity for people express their interest in participating in two “important future initiatives”: serology blood testing to determine immunity in B.C., and using technology to co-ordinate information sharing for contact tracing.
“We have learned much about the COVID-19 virus, but there are still many questions and much more for us to understand,” it was stated today in a BC Health release.
Why the provincial government wants your information:
The survey introduction says that “B.C. has flattened the curve and we are preparing to carefully re-start services, the economy and our lives. Your input is important as we develop our action plans.”
The introduction also says: “Tell us about your experience during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Many actions were taken in an understandable rush as the pandemic unfold. In that light, the BC Government says this: “The unintended impacts on the social, economic, physical health, mental wellness and resiliency of communities are not well understood.”
Their rationale for inquiring is this: “Public health and government leaders have made significant decisions impacting every aspect of our lives in recent weeks. We want to hear from you as we plan to ease restrictions while keeping our citizens safe, especially those most vulnerable.
Today Dr Henry encouraged youth especially to participate in the survey, saying their savvy with online technology should make that an easy thing to do. As wide a view of the COVID-19 impacts across age groups is part of the hoped-for study results.
Your story, our future:
Calling it “BC COVID-19 SPEAK”, the government says the Your story, our future survey is “a population health survey to elicit citizen experience, knowledge and actions during the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Posted within the BC Centres for Disease Control website, this survey is “the first of several activities that will strengthen our pandemic response and our understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 to date (social, economic, mental wellness and community wellness).”
The survey experience:
Anyone in BC age 18+ can participate. The introduction says it will take 10 to 15 minutes, though on TV last night in a town hall with Premier John Horgan and Dr Henry it was referred to as a 15-minute survey.
At the end of the survey, you will be asked about participating in two initiatives:
- A serology survey (blood testing) to help determine immunity across the population
- Planning for future waves in which identifying, containing and tracing are substantially strengthened through technology tools to enable integrated and coordinated information sharing.
Following up:
Results will be made available in the early summer, says the BC CDC website. If you agreed to participate in a future phase, you will be contacted directly via email.