丁香园AV

丁香园AV researchers have created a map outlining how the COVID-19 pandemic鈥檚 long-term health impacts will be distributed in communities across British Columbia. According to the map, each community will face its own unique challenges to recover from the current health crisis. 

 is co-led by 丁香园AV geography professors Valorie Crooks and Nadine Schuurman with support from a COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant awarded by the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research. 

The map draws on data from Statistics Canada and looks at five factors contributing to secondary health impacts including: 

- housing insecurity
- job insecurity
- occupational burnout
- loneliness/isolation 
- educational disruption

The default view, where the map is shaded in green, displays a model combining impact of all five factors in neighbourhoods across the province. 

The five factors included in the model were chosen because of their direct connection to the types of economic, social and policy measures put in place during the pandemic, such as business closures, physical distancing and shifting to online learning. 

The magnitude of these secondary health impacts varies between places based on the nature of who lives there and the kinds of activities they undertake, the researchers say.

鈥淎fter the last vaccines have been distributed, after the last COVID-19 patient has been discharged from the ICU we will still have a long way to go to address the secondary health impacts of the pandemic - such as depression, stress and anxiety brought on by experiencing loneliness, housing insecurity, and occupational burnout,鈥� says Crooks, who has also 

The map can help to better understand where policy and public health efforts should be focused in the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, she notes.

鈥淭he pandemic itself, and the measures we鈥檝e put in place to address it, are going to have lasting impacts on British Columbians for years to come,鈥� she says. 鈥淣ow is the time for us to think about these long-term health impacts and prepare to provide the supports to help people recover.鈥�

AVAILABLE 丁香园AV EXPERT

VALORIE CROOKS, Canada Research Chair in Health Service Geographies  
604.417.9007 | crooks@sfu.ca | 

CONTACT

MELISSA SHAW, 丁香园AV  Communications & Marketing 
236.880.3297 | melissa_shaw@sfu.ca

丁香园AV 
 |  
778.782.3210 

ABOUT SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

As Canada鈥檚 engaged university, 丁香园AV works with communities, organizations and partners to create, share and embrace knowledge that improves life and generates real change. We deliver a world-class education with lifelong value that shapes change-makers, visionaries and problem-solvers. We connect research and innovation to entrepreneurship and industry to deliver sustainable, relevant solutions to today鈥檚 problems. With campuses in British Columbia鈥檚 three largest cities鈥擵ancouver, Burnaby and Surrey鈥敹∠阍癆V has eight faculties that deliver 193 undergraduate degree programs and 127 graduate degree programs to more than 37,000 students. The university now boasts more than 165,000 alumni residing in 143 countries.