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COVID-19

COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. In short order, the world of work changed dramatically in Canada. Non-essential businesses were locked down. Some workers lost their jobs; others were sent home to work. Despite protections, workers in sectors ranging from health care to transportation to food production and retail faced risk of infection, illness and even death. IWH research examines the impact of the pandemic on workers and workplaces, as well as the lessons for work and health policy-makers to prepare for the next pandemic.

Featured

A healthcare worker in scrubs and a mask walks to work with her bag and phone in-hand.
Research Highlights

Workers with COVID-19 had better return-to-work rates than others during the pandemic

During the pandemic, workers who contracted COVID-19 from work had better return-to-work rates 18 months later than those with other conditions. Most traditional return-to-work factors, however, did not explain the difference in rates.
Published: July 14, 2026
A man sits at a desk on a video call in his apartment's living room.
Research Highlights

Mental health of Canadians who work from home no better or worse than those working outside the home

Canadian adults who work from home report the same levels of mental health, life satisfaction and stress as those who work on-site at a workplace, or at no fixed location (on the road). That’s according to a study of survey data from almost 25,000 Canadians in 2022.
Published: October 8, 2025
Two workers wearing masks look at a tablet together
At Work article

What can work-related COVID-19 cases tell us about how to prepare for the next pandemic?

To what extent did workplace exposures account for the transmission of the COVID-19 virus during the first two years of the pandemic? A new study by IWH combined data sources to estimate work-related infection rates, using a method that took into account major shifts in where people worked. It found the role of work exposure changed from wave to wave, in a dynamic pattern not in keeping with the number of cases in the general population.
Published: February 2024
Journal article
Journal article

Prevalence of unmet rehabilitation needs among Canadians living with long-term conditions or disabilities during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

Published: Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, February 2024
Journal article
Journal article

Variation in occupational exposure risk for COVID-19 workers' compensation claims across pandemic waves in Ontario

Published: Occupational & Environmental Medicine, February 2024
IWH Speaker Series
IWH Speaker Series

Refining estimates of occupational exposures and risk of workplace COVID-19 transmission

The COVID-19 pandemic shone a light on the importance of having accurate data on workplace exposure to infectious diseases. Efforts to estimate infection rates of COVID-19 during the public health emergency were hampered by inadequate information on key factors, such as whether an infected worker had worked from home or interacted with the public. In this presentation, Dr. Peter Smith shares results from a study that examined the risk of work-related COVID-19 infections. He discusses methods used by the team to combine data sources to take into account changes in labour market participation—including working from home—during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Published: January 2024
Journal article
Journal article

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on community-based brain injury associations across Canada: a cross-sectional survey study

Published: Frontiers in Public Health, November 2023
Journal article
Journal article

Understanding the early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on brain injury associations across Canada: a qualitative study

Published: Inquiry, November 2023
The Toronto Star logo
IWH in the media

They made doors, gum and jerry cans. Ontario’s ‘essential’ workers in manufacturing accounted for more workplace COVID deaths than any other sector — even health care

Using fatality reports filed to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, the Toronto Star's Sara Mojtehedzadeh put together a comprehensive snapshot of COVID deaths in Ontario that are linked to workplace transmission. IWH president Dr. Peter Smith offers comments on the importance of occupational data in pandemic surveillance.
Published: Toronto Star, October 2022
An overhead shot of a teacher, sitting in front of two laptops in a cramped corner of her home office
At Work article

Study of educators during pandemic found psychosocial conditions worse for those teaching online

In the fall of 2020, Ontario educators who taught in a virtual environment felt isolated and unsupported, while those working in-person experienced anxiety related to the risk of COVID transmission. That’s according a study of Ontario teachers, conducted by OHCOW and IWH.
Published: October 2022
Journal article
Journal article

A media surveillance analysis of COVID-19 workplace outbreaks in Canada and the United States

Published: FACETS, August 2022
A masked personal support worker looks grimly at the camera
Research Highlights

Working conditions for Greater Toronto Area personal support workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Personal support workers (PSWs) faced a range of challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including concerns of contracting or transmitting the virus, reduced work hours and income, loss of childcare services and lack of paid sick leave. While the pandemic highlighted the importance of the PSW workforce to the Canadian health-care system, pre-existing poor working conditions—in particular, insecure jobs with few benefits—exacerbated COVID-19-related work experiences.
Published: July 2022