Mental and physical impact of pandemic on educators focus of COVID-19 study

Ontario researchers want to recruit teachers and education workers for a new study looking at how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted them.

Brenda Coleman, a clinical scientist at Sinai Health and assistant professor at the University of Toronto and Western University in London, is one of the principal investigators leading the COVID-19 Cohort Study for Teachers and Education Workers in Ontario. Coleman and her team are looking to recruit 7,000 participants from across Ontario.

"I'm hoping to learn how many of our education workers have already been infected with COVID and how many become infected over the next year," Coleman said.

Coleman said they are casting a province-wide net for participants. That's necessary to better understand differences in "the variants that we're exposed to and … whether or not having this variance in the region puts us at higher or lower risk of becoming infected."

Participants of the study will be asked to self-collect blood spot samples and answer questionnaires throughout the year-long study. They will also report when they are tested for — and vaccinated against — COVID-19.

"Everything is anonymized and none of the data is shared outside of the study office," Coleman said, noting information, such as results of blood tests, are shared with the individual participants.

While some have balked at the requirement to collect blood samples at home, Coleman said it is essentially a quick and painless fingerprick.

"It's really simple, it doesn't hurt. I've done it myself, so I can attest to the fact. My research assistants have done it, too, and said, 'Oh, I thought it was going to hurt and it really didn't' ... it's like somebody who's diabetic and they check their blood sugar levels. It's a quick poke."

The study's large sample size and wide geographical focus aims to produce valuable data that will be shared with school boards, unions, and the province's education ministry, she said.

Coleman said they hope to share results with as many people as possible so that teachers and education workers have "information to be able to push for better conditions."

Coleman said that she hopes to have data to report by this September. More information about this study can be found on the Toronto Invasive Bacterial Diseases Network website.