Little is known about the use or misuse of cleaning products during the COVID-19 pandemic. We compiled data from January to June in 2019 and 2020 from Canadian poison centres, and report on calls regarding selected cleaning products and present year-overyear percentage change. There were 3408 (42%) calls related to bleaches; 2015 (25%) to hand sanitizers; 1667 (21%) to disinfectants; 949 (12%) to chlorine gas; and 148 (2%) to chloramine gas. An increase in calls occurred in conjunction with the onset of COVID-19, with the largest increase occurring in March. Timely access to Canadian poison centre data facilitated early communication of safety messaging for dissemination to the public.
On sait peu de choses sur l’utilisation, correcte ou incorrecte, des produits de nettoyage pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. Nous avons compilé des données provenant de centres antipoison canadiens pour janvier à juin 2019 et janvier à juin 2020 et nous rendons compte ici des appels relatifs à certains produits de nettoyage et de l’évolution en pourcentages entre ces deux périodes. Il y a eu 3 408 appels (42 %) portant sur des agents de blanchiment, 2015 (25 %) sur des désinfectants pour les mains, 1667 (21 %) sur des désinfectants, 949 (12 %) sur le chlore gazeux et 148 (2 %) sur la chloramine gazeuse. On a observé une augmentation du nombre d’appels en concomitance avec l’apparition de la COVID-19, avec un pic en mars. L’accès rapide aux données des centres antipoison canadiens a permis une communication précoce de messages de sécurité au public.
The Canadian Surveillance System for Poison Information (CSSPI) led by Health Canada is a developing network of poison centres, health authorities and regulatory agencies that facilitates early detection of poisoning incidents and alerting at the national level to inform harm reduction interventions. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns were raised over the potential for misuse of cleaning products and disinfectants; the CSSPI network monitored and assessed these concerns. An overall increase in calls about select cleaning products and disinfectants occurred concurrently with the pandemic, with percentage increases for selected products as high as 400% compared to the same period in the previous year.