Gender and policy response to COVID-19 in Canada and Scotland

Figures & data

Table 1. Health System and Health-Related Information for Ontario, Canada and Scotland, United Kingdom.

	Ontario, Canada	Scotland, United Kingdom
Health System
Public healthcare coverage	Universal	Universal
Healthcare Funding	Publicly funded	Publicly funded
Health Governance Model	Regionalized	Devolved
Major source of funding	Federal government	Central government
Health Information
Mortality rate	0.75%	1.08%
Chronic disease incidence (Cancer)	0.55%	0.59%
Population	14.97 million	5.46 million
Health Factors
Household Income per capita	USD 30,465.38	USD 35,308.00
Unemployment rate	5.60%	3.70%

Sources: Statistics Canada (2020); Public Health Ontario (2020); Public Health Scotland (2020); National Records of Scotland (2020); Ontario Ministry of Finance (2020).

Figure 1. COVID-19 Cases in Ontario, Canada and Scotland, United Kingdom. Source: Queen’s Printer for Ontario 2020a; The Scottish Government 2020.

Table 2. Profile of Health ministers in Ontario, Canada and Scotland, United Kingdom.

Profile	Ontario, Canada	Scotland, United Kingdom
Name	Honorable Christine Elliott, MPP	Honorable Jeanne Tennent Freeman, MSP
Constituency	Newmarket, Ontario	Carrick, Comnock and Doon Valley
Political party	Progressive Conservative Party	Scottish National Party
Current Cabinet Position(s)	Ontario Deputy Minister Ontario Minister of Health	Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport
Years in regional parliament	2006–2015; 2018-Present	2016-present
Profession	Law	Sociology
Other Political Leadership Positions and Appointments	Minister of health and long-term care Deputy leader of Progressive Conservative Party Ontario’s Patient Ombudsman	Senior Adviser to the First Minister, Jack McConnel between 2001–2006 Founding member of the Women for Independence in 2012
Awards	Whitby’s Peter Perry Award, Rotary International Paul Harris Fellow	The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

Table 3. Pre-Lockdown Interventions in Ontario, Canada and Scotland, United Kingdom to Prevent Spread of COVID-19 Infections.

Pre-Lockdown Interventions	Target of Interventions
Ontario, Canada
Launch dedicated webpage	Public
Publicise handwashing	Public
Outbound travel advice	Public
Import restriction	Manufacturing and supply companies in countries with high cases of COVID-19
Inbound travel restriction	Tourists from countries with high cases of COVID-19
Contact tracing and case management	Infected persons, persons with symptoms, and people who had been in contact with infected persons
Extension of healthcare coverage	New immigrants
Scientific advisory groups	Experts
Cross-sectoral advisory groups	Experts
Scotland, United Kingdom
20-second handwashing advice	Public
“Test and Protect” system	Infected persons, persons with symptoms, and people who had been in contact with infected persons
Outbound travel advice	Public
Social distancing advice	Public
Scientific advisory group	Experts

Statistics Canada. 2020. Data. Accessed December 18, 2020. https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/type/data?text=ontario&geoname=A0002.

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Public Health Ontario. 2020. Data and Analysis. Accessed December 18, 2020. https://www.publichealthontario.ca/ Public Health Scotland. 2020. Data and intelligence. Accessed December 18, 2020. https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/index.asp

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National Records of Scotland, 2020. Stats at a Glance: Infographics and Visualizations. Accessed December 28, 2020, https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/stats-at-a-glance/infographics-and-visualisations#rgar-2018.

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Ontario Ministry of Finance 2020. Ontario Fact Sheet. Accessed December 18, 2020. https://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/economy/ecupdates/factsheet.html

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Queen’s Printer for Ontario. 2020a. Ontario Confirms Presumptive Case of COVID-19: All Protocols Followed and Risk to Ontarians Remains Low. Accessed July 11, 2020. https://news.ontario.ca/mohltc/en/2020/02/ontario-confirms-presumptive-case-of-covid-19.html

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