The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic was a major threat to public health. Globally, governments implemented unprecedented public health measures to limit the spread of the virus.  Our Team contributed to the following COVID-19 initiatives:

  • howsmyflattening.ca a central hub for data and analytics led by University of Toronto researchers to aggregate data and resources about coronavirus in Ontario. Each day, over 150 members collect data about coronavirus cases, analyze the numbers, and design data visualizations. For more information see a recent article by UofT News and the Toronto Star featuring #HowsMyFlattening
  • Risk predictions for severe COVID-19 outcomes with Layer6.
  • COVID-19 Canada Open Data Working Group, an Open access epidemiologic data and an interactive dashboard to monitor the COVID-19 outbreak in Canada.

Publications include:

  • Watson T, Kwong JC, Kornas K, Mishra S, Rosella LC. Quantifying the magnitude of the general contextual effect in a multilevel study of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Ontario, Canada: application of the median rate ratio in population health research. Popul Health Metr. 2024 Oct 7;22(1):27. doi:10.1186/s12963-024-00348-8.
  • Postill G, Murray R, Wilton A, Wells RA, Sirbu R, Daley MJ, Rosella LC. The Use of Cremation Data for Timely Mortality Surveillance During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ontario, Canada: Validation Study. JMIR. 2022;8(2):e32426. doi: https://doi.org/10.2196/32426
  • Gutierrez JM, Volkovs M, Poutanen T, Watson T, Rosella LC. Risk stratification for COVID-19 hospitalization: a multivariable model based on gradient-boosting decision trees. CMAJ Open. 2021;9(4).12.23.20248783; doi: https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20210036
  • Bryan K, Buajitti E, Rosella LC, Goel V. The Economic and Long-Term Health Consequences of Canadian COVID-19 Lockdowns. Canadian Public Policy. 2021; 47:2 281-300. doi: https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2020-134