Never would we have imagined that our third issue of 2020 would be printed in the middle of a pandemic. COVID-19, which has already infected more than 20 million people worldwide and is projected to kill a million by the end of the year, has changed the world in ways that we are only beginning to comprehend.

Population scientists are playing an important role in the fight against COVID-19, from analyzing the disease’s death toll to studying inequalities in infection rates and severe health outcomes along key demographic characteristics, such as age, gender, and race. The main factor limiting our efforts is data availability. Beyond specific hospital settings, access remains limited to individual-level information on those who have tested positive for COVID-19. Particularly alarming is the lack of knowledge about disease progression in population-based samples of children. This information is needed as millions of children across the world, including Canada, return to school.

Research about COVID-19 has been growing at an incredible speed, oftentimes outpacing journals’ capacity to publish. Nonetheless, it is more important than ever to ensure timely publication of results that could be important in our fight against the disease. For this reason, Canadian Studies in Population is issuing a special call for papers about COVID-19. All details can be found on the journal’s website.

We apologize for delays that Canadian Studies in Population is experiencing because of the pandemic, and we would like to ensure you that we are working hard to resolve these issues. Thank you to all our authors for their patience and to our reviewers for their irreplaceable commitment during these difficult times.

Stay safe everyone and wear a mask.

Simona Bignami-Van Assche, Editor-in-Chief

Sophia Chae, Deputy Editor