In May 2020, the BC Centre for Disease Control launched the BC COVID-19 SPEAK Survey to gather data and insights from British Columbians on their experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by the BCCDC Foundation for Public Health, this was the largest-ever population health survey in Canada and enabled public health leaders and decision-makers to acquire valuable evidence needed to monitor community health, and to plan, prepare, and protect British Columbians.
As these data have been critical for BC’s COVID-19 response, we’re pleased to have also funded the BC COVID-19 SPEAK 2 Survey, which is the second iteration of the population-level survey, with a focus on recovery, learning, and supporting, as we look ahead to post-pandemic plans. View the SPEAK 2 Survey’s interactive dashboard here.
Approximately 200,000 respondents completed the SPEAK 2 Survey, allowing public health experts to track and learn from local- and community-level data ensuring the cross-section of the population of BC is well-captured.
The purpose of this second-round survey was to better understand British Columbians’ experiences one year into the pandemic. This includes data on areas such as how behaviours and experiences have changed over the course of the pandemic, and the impacts of the pandemic on British Columbians. These data are helping our experts determine how to best respond to ongoing challenges, plan for adaptation and recovery, understand what barriers exist to accessing vaccines, and what supports are needed to help with recovery.
Examples of how the data have been used so far include:
- Inform re-opening plans for safe return to school for kindergarten to grade 12 and the return of in-person post-secondary education.
- Model the impact of the pandemic and informed restart plans.
- Target education and interventions to areas with high vaccine hesitancy levels and inform COVID-19 vaccine program decisions and equity considerations.
- Raise discussions with medical and health leaders around virtual health and healthcare access.
- Raise discussions with community stakeholders to target supports and initiatives to improve mental health.
- Inform recovery priorities in supporting the health and wellbeing of young adults aged 18-29 years and their communities across BC.
“The results from this round of the population health survey continue to show the severe impacts of the pandemic on the health and wellbeing of British Columbians, in particular, worsening mental health, disproportional impact on young adults, and increasing inequities.”
Jat Sandhu, Senior Executive Director, Innovation, Partnerships and Population Public Health Management
Results provide evidence across a variety of key indicators that will help British Columbia learn from the past and prepare for the future.
You can find more data and technical notes on the BCCDC website.
We’re as always very grateful to our donors and partners who have helped us to support such critical work that our public health leaders, decision-makers, and experts need to get us through the pandemic and better prepare us for recovery.
We continue to raise funds to support COVID-19 response and recovery efforts through our Emergency Response Fund and with your support we can help more people, faster.
The BCCDC Foundation continues to take on initiatives that leverage the government’s leadership role in healthcare delivery by supporting public health research, programs, and initiatives, and we are committed to seeing the province through recovery, ensuring that we bring a health equity focus to all population and public health programs.
If you would like to make a significant contribution to ensure BC is on the cutting-edge of COVID-19 response and research, please contact us at donate@bccdcfoundation.org.
