Coding summary of provincial news releases issued by and with chief medical officers of health, Jan. 21 to Mar. 31, 2020
| No. (%) of news releases; province | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC n = 56 | AB n = 23 | SK n = 29 | MB n = 44 | ON n = 41 | QC n = 15 | NB n = 25 | NS n = 29 | PE n = 20 | NL n = 7 | Total n = 290 | |
| Date of first COVID-19 news release | Jan. 21 | Mar. 14 | Feb. 13 | Jan. 28 | Jan. 25 | Jan. 22 | Mar. 1 | Feb. 28 | Feb. 28 | Mar. 10 | – |
| News releases primarily issued by CMOHs alone, primarily issued jointly with other officials or issued in mixed fashion (sometimes alone and sometimes jointly) | Joint | Joint | Joint | Joint | Mixed | Joint | Mixed | Joint | Solo | Joint | – |
| Describing preparedness and capacity building | |||||||||||
| Efforts to increase and improve testing and case identification | 19 (34) | 2 (9) | 7 (24) | 9 (20) | 4 (10) | 3 (20) | 5 (20) | 9 (31) | 1 (5) | – | 59 (20) |
| Emergency preparedness and contingency planning | 17 (30) | 1 (4) | 11 (38) | 12 (27) | 21 (51) | 4 (27) | 6 (24) | 13 (45) | 3 (15) | – | 88 (30) |
| Issuing recommendations and mandates | |||||||||||
| Cancellations, closures and social distancing recommendations | 26 (46) | 19 (83) | 18 (62) | 22 (50) | 14 (34) | 5 (33) | 13 (52) | 16 (55) | 16 (80) | 5 (71) | 154 (53) |
| Travel-related recommendations and restrictions | 11 (20) | 5 (22) | 12 (41) | 25 (57) | – | 4 (27) | 6 (24) | 26 (90) | 10 (50) | 2 (29) | 101 (35) |
| Enforcement of restrictions | 4 (7) | 5 (22) | – | 2 (5) | 1 (2) | – | 2 (8) | 2 (7) | 6 (30) | – | 22 (8) |
| Characterization of pandemic as serious or emergency situation | 5 (9) | 2 (9) | 5 (17) | 6 (14) | 7 (17) | 3 (20) | 2 (8) | 2 (7) | 3 (15) | 1 (14) | 36 (12) |
| Expressing reassurance and encouraging the public | |||||||||||
| Public reassurance | 27 (48) | 3 (13) | 8 (28) | 9 (20) | 19 (46) | 10 (67) | 5 (20) | 4 (14) | 3 (15) | 1 (14) | 89 (31) |
| Acknowledgement of community cooperation or contributions | 11 (20) | 5 (22) | – | 2 (5) | 1 (2) | 8 (53) | 3 (12) | 5 (17) | 3 (15) | – | 38 (13) |
| Promoting public responsibility | |||||||||||
| Discussion of transmission prevention as collective responsibility | 16 (29) | 14 (61) | 4 (14) | 4 (9) | 4 (10) | 6 (40) | 12 (48) | 10 (34) | 1 (5) | 1 (14) | 72 (25) |
| Provision of COVID-19–related information to the public | 9 (16) | 5 (22) | 3 (10) | 12 (27) | 4 (10) | 3 (20) | 9 (36) | 8 (28) | 5 (25) | 2 (29) | 60 (21) |
Note: AB = Alberta, BC = British Columbia, CMOHs = chief medical officers of health, COVID-19 = coronavirus disease 2019, MB = Manitoba, NB = New Brunswick, NL = Newfoundland and Labrador, NS = Nova Scotia, ON = Ontario, PE = Prince Edward Island, QC = Quebec, SK = Saskatchewan.