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Worried about your health during the pandemic? You’re not alone, poll finds

Oct 22, 2021 , , , , by shlf

Ontarians are more worried about their physical and mental health — as well as their personal safety — than they were earlier in the pandemic, a suggests.

Eight months into the that has killed 3,800 people in the province, Campaign Research found more and more poll respondents are expressing concerns about their well-being.

“It’s clearly taking a toll. People are feeling it,” Campaign Research principal Nick Kouvalis said Wednesday.

The firm found 64 per cent are concerned about their physical health while 56 per cent are worried about their mental health.

In June, Campaign Research asked the same questions and found 57 per cent were worried about their physical health and 46 per cent had mental health concerns.

Similarly, the latest poll found 59 per cent are worried about their personal safety compared to 43 per cent about six months ago.

Campaign Research polled 1,001 people across Ontario from last Tuesday through Thursday using Maru/Blue’s online panel.

It is an opt-in poll, but for comparison purposes, a random sample of this size would have a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

“Not to be critical of any level of government, because they have all spoken about mental health and put dollars toward it,” said Kouvalis, who has worked with Conservative and Liberal candidates across Canada and managed the winning Toronto mayoral campaigns of Rob Ford and John Tory.

“But the mental health discussion has taken a back seat to all of the other emerging issues that are also important, such as the vaccines,” he said.

“Relatively speaking, people are more concerned today than they were in June.”

The increased anxiety around personal safety may be a combination of a number of factors.

“It could be that some people are feeling unsafe in their homes due to domestic abuse,” said Kouvalis.

“Or it could be that they have to go out to work and are more worried about catching COVID-19 because the (infection) numbers are up,” the pollster said.

“Of course, it could be that there’s a perception crime is on the rise due to shootings (in Toronto) and so on. We can’t be sure,” he said.

“It’s hard to say, but all of these issues combined may be connected to the mental health number being up (poll over poll) and the physical health number being up.”

Overall, it appears to “point to a deterioration of mental health” among Ontarians since the pandemic took hold last March.

“All levels of government, all (political) parties, all health officials, and the media need to let the public know what supports there are to help them,” said Kouvalis.

“Because basically, people are more worried about everything except for their personal rights and freedoms,” he noted.

In June, 37 per cent expressed worry that those liberties were being trampled on due to the various authorities’ response to the pandemic.

This month, 34 per cent shared that concern.

“That’s within the margin of error so relatively speaking people are feeling the same way in December as they did in June.”

Another worry that is essentially unchanged over the past six months is concern “about your ability to visit with extended family” due to restrictions designed to stop the spread of the virus.

About two-thirds — 64 per cent — said they were worried about that compared to 60 per cent in June.

But 51 per cent are worried about the impact of COVID-19 on their social life, up from 43 per cent in the summer poll.

“All of that stuff is going to have some bearing on how happy you are,” said Kouvalis.

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter:

ultfixpt

Swish, gargle, spit: Behold the new, kid-friendly COVID-19 test

Oct 1, 2021 , , , , by shlf

HALIFAX—We all inherently know it: Swish-gargle-spit is much better than a stick up the nose.

If you’re a kid, and you need to get tested for in Halifax, at least you’ll have that option now.

If you’re an adult … well, for the time being, it looks like you get the shaft.

The IWK Health Centre in Halifax, one of the country’s major pediatric hospitals, began Wednesday to roll out a pilot project in which the nasal swab test for COVID-19 is replaced with one called — in technical terms — the Gargle-Swish test.

The patient swishes five millilitres of saline in their mouth for five seconds, then tilts their head back and gargles for five more. They repeat that process two more times, then spit it all out into a cup.

Done. Thirty seconds all told, and no stick up the nose. No fuss, no mess — unless you lack an aptitude for gargling. The cup goes off to the lab, and the results come back in 72 hours.

The new test is reportedly 98 per cent sensitive for COVID-19, which puts it on par with the nasal swab test.

Unfortunately, for the foreseeable future, the test is only available to children ages four to 18. Only two of these pilot projects exist — the first at the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, the second in Halifax at the IWK — so resources are limited and are being prioritized for children.

“We started this morning, and it’s been resoundingly positive, both from the staff and from the patients as well,” said Joanne Gallant, clinical leader of the primary assessment clinic at the IWK. “We had a patient who had previously had the nasal swab, and had come in for the gargle. And he left with a big smile on his face and said it was great.”

Gallant said research has shown that every health-care interaction a child has early on has an impact on their future health interactions.

In this case, Gallant believes, there will be shorter-term benefits, too. With schools back in session and health guidelines suggesting a coronavirus test if children display symptoms of fever or cold, the numbers of children who need to be tested has increased.

“We’re also hoping that it’s going to increase the rates at which people are willing to come in, because all of these (coronavirus) tests are based on self-reporting.

“So if somebody had the swish-and-gargle test, and it went very well — which is what we’re seeing — they were hoping that, you know, in a couple of months, if they have another cold, they wouldn’t hesitate in filling out that form and coming back for another test.”

For Sara Laffin, that seems plausible.

Laffin, a nurse at the IWK who administers some of the swish-and-gargle tests, also has two children of her own, a seven-year-old girl, Penny, and a five-year-old boy, Mickey.

She said although children are more resilient than adults think, there’s still a measure of apprehension about the nasal swab test.

“I think it’s quite vulnerable having another human putting a swab up your nose. It can be quite scary for kids and cause a lot of anxiety in some children just thinking about it. Not necessarily the procedure itself, but leading up to the procedure can be quite scary,” she said.

But she’s tried the new swish-and-gargle test on her own children, with positive results.

“They both thought it was fun and easy, were the two words they used to describe it, and, ‘It wasn’t that bad,’ was what Penny had said.”

Steve McKinley is a Halifax-based reporter for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: