The Ontario government has announced a proposed, regulatory change to mandate the reporting of data on race, income, language and household size for individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Reportedly this will help to ensure the province has a more complete picture of the outbreak.
This change will allow for the collection of data in a consistent way across the province, while ensuring the privacy of Ontarians is protected.
Under these proposed changes, individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 infection will be asked additional questions about their race, income, languages spoken, and household size.
Individuals can choose not to answer any or all of these questions.
Individuals' privacy is protected as it is for all information currently collected on other diseases.
Collecting data province-wide, and in a standardized way, will ensure a more complete picture of the outbreak is captured, says the government.
