The results of a survey of close to 400,000 British Columbians is now accessible to the public.   The "Your Story-Our Future" survey is the largest-ever population health survey in Canada.  BC's Deputy Provincial Health Officer says questions were asked about whether people were able to obey public health orders, how the pandemic affected their incomes, their home life, their social circles their mental health and activities along with the services they access.  Dr. Reka Gustafson says the results helped public health officials understand who is most affected by the pandemic and how.

Gustafson says the data led to public health orders that maintained access to daycare, in-class education and sports activities for children and young adults.  It also led to the creation of the single site policy, enabling long term care workers to stay at one care home by increasing their pay and their hours.  The survey results can be displayed as provincial results, regional results and even neighbourhood results.  Those results can be broken down further into age, ethnicity and other variables and can also be compared to other regions within the province.  The survey was taken in May 2020, just as BC was starting to bend the curve in the first wave of the pandemic.  Researchers hope to raise enough money to launch a second survey to measure how British Columbians are faring in this second wave.  You can access the survey at www.bccdc.ca/covid19survey