In response to the onset of SARS-CoV-2, the CLSA has launched three ancillary studies to explore the impacts of the virus.

More than 28,000 CLSA participants have taken part in the CLSA COVID-19 Questionnaire Study to investigate the effects of the pandemic on older adults, exploring how they cope, the impacts on their physical and mental health and changes to how they access health-care services. The CLSA COVID-19 Questionnaire Study is funded by the Juravinski Research Institute, McMaster University, the McMaster Institute for Research on Aging, the Nova Scotia COVID-19 Health Research Coalition and the Public Health Agency of Canada.

In fall 2020, a partnership with the Government of Canada's COVID-19 Immunity Task Force launched the CLSA COVID-19 Seroprevalence Study. This study collects and analyzes blood samples from more than 19,000 CLSA participants in 10 provinces to better understand how widespread SARS-CoV-2 infection is among adults over age 50.

A third study, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Weston Family Foundation, examines the impacts of SARS-CoV-2 on brain health.