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

The global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, has overturned the stability of public health systems and economies in countries all over the world.Much about the virus itself remains unknown; the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, but its origins are still largely speculative.The predominant belief is that the virus was transferred to humans from bats, as a novel virus with 88% similarity with COVID-19 [1].The virus spread extremely quickly in comparison to similar diseases such as SARS and no consensus has been reached for strategies of containment [2].As such, despite World Health Organization guidelines, countries have been implementing independent responses that have broadly failed to contain the pandemic [2].These policies typically include quarantines, restricting travel, limiting public gatherings, and expanding public health programs to accommodate an increased number of sick patients and testing requirements [2].With no end in sight, it is imperative for Canada to consider a wider variety of tactics to combat the virus altogether in addition to learning from outcomes in other countries.Although researchers have produced many topic-focused findings concerning individual policies and scientific recommendations, there is a lack of extensive reviews covering a wide range of data collected from multiple countries on multiple pandemic response strategies.Such comprehensive review provides a birds-eye, analytical approach to coordinating multiple sectors of governance within the realm of public health, from mental health to elderly care homes.