Table 2.

Catalyst for Care Theme with Supporting Quotes

Theme	Quotes
Catalyst for telehealth	Physician early adopter, “I knew patients would be on board. Doctors were another story, but COVID-19 kind of catalyzed it for physicians to see the value and to realize it's not as bad as they thought.” (The Toronto Sun, April 28)
	Technology company CEOs, “For various reasons we haven't had as much traction as we would have liked from the regulators and provincial health services. I think now there's a huge realization virtual health care has a huge role to play.” (The Globe and Mail, March 19); “Because of the crisis, normally slow-moving hospitals and health-care systems are ready to implement changes fast, and accept imperfections along the way.” (National Post, April 2); “(COVID-19) has been a major catalyst for the growth of virtual care. I believe it has fundamentally changed the adoption curve for digital services.” (The Province, April 5)
	Reporter (Virtual mental-health clinic): “An urgent care clinic like this had been proposed before so when the unprecedented need arose, Royal staff ‘blew the dust’ off that plan and forged ahead.” (The Ottawa Sun, April 6)
Meeting demand and numerical reports	Reporters, “Telehealth companies such as Montreal's Dialogue and Toronto-based MindBeacon are meeting surging demand from employers that want to provide remote care to housebound workers.” (The Globe and Mail, April 29). “One company providing a virtual care smart phone app, noted a doubling of demand for its services on ‘each of the past three days.’ Another company (TELUS Babylon) reported having triple the number of smartphone app downloads in one week at the beginning of the pandemic.” (The Globe and Mail, March 19).
	Reporter, “All scheduled appointments for the next two weeks are being converted to telemedicine consultations.” (Montreal Gazette, March 25).
	Ministry of Health, In January, Telehealth averaged about 1,900 calls a day, while in February it had about 1,600 daily calls. After the first 13 days in March, Telehealth is averaging 2,800 calls a day and “total call volume continues to see an upward trend” (The Globe and Mail, March 19; Toronto Star, March 15).
	Executive Director of Shoreline Medical Society, “40,261 telephone clinic appointments between March and August.” (Peninsula News Review, August 28)
Policy change	Reporter, “There are many exciting possibilities and good arguments for moving ahead on virtual-care protocols. But there are none better than the coronavirus outbreak, which has already prompted the system to work out a makeshift approach.” (Daily Gleaner, March 18)