diff --git a/src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_poll_posix.cc b/src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_poll_posix.cc
index 6120f9f44b7..436537bc0ba 100644
--- a/src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_poll_posix.cc
+++ b/src/core/lib/iomgr/ev_poll_posix.cc
@@ -876,7 +876,6 @@ static grpc_error* pollset_work(grpc_pollset* pollset,
                                 grpc_pollset_worker** worker_hdl,
                                 grpc_millis deadline) {
   GPR_TIMER_SCOPE("pollset_work", 0);
-
   grpc_pollset_worker worker;
   if (worker_hdl) *worker_hdl = &worker;
   grpc_error* error = GRPC_ERROR_NONE;
@@ -927,7 +926,8 @@ static grpc_error* pollset_work(grpc_pollset* pollset,
   gpr_tls_set(&g_current_thread_poller, (intptr_t)pollset);
   while (keep_polling) {
     keep_polling = 0;
-    if (!pollset->kicked_without_pollers) {
+    if (!pollset->kicked_without_pollers ||
+        deadline <= grpc_core::ExecCtx::Get()->Now()) {
       if (!added_worker) {
         push_front_worker(pollset, &worker);
         added_worker = 1;
diff --git a/src/python/grpcio/grpc/_channel.py b/src/python/grpcio/grpc/_channel.py
index 25a42109747..2eff08aa573 100644
--- a/src/python/grpcio/grpc/_channel.py
+++ b/src/python/grpcio/grpc/_channel.py
@@ -906,11 +906,6 @@ class Channel(grpc.Channel):
         self._call_state = _ChannelCallState(self._channel)
         self._connectivity_state = _ChannelConnectivityState(self._channel)
 
-        # TODO(https://github.com/grpc/grpc/issues/9884)
-        # Temporary work around UNAVAILABLE issues
-        # Remove this once c-core has retry support
-        _subscribe(self._connectivity_state, lambda *args: None, None)
-
     def subscribe(self, callback, try_to_connect=None):
         _subscribe(self._connectivity_state, callback, try_to_connect)
 
diff --git a/src/python/grpcio_tests/tests/unit/_reconnect_test.py b/src/python/grpcio_tests/tests/unit/_reconnect_test.py
index 8acba5a30b9..a708d8d862b 100644
--- a/src/python/grpcio_tests/tests/unit/_reconnect_test.py
+++ b/src/python/grpcio_tests/tests/unit/_reconnect_test.py
@@ -89,7 +89,10 @@ class ReconnectTest(unittest.TestCase):
         multi_callable = channel.unary_unary(_UNARY_UNARY)
         self.assertEqual(_RESPONSE, multi_callable(_REQUEST))
         server.stop(None)
-        time.sleep(1)
+        # By default, the channel connectivity is checked every 5s
+        # GRPC_CLIENT_CHANNEL_BACKUP_POLL_INTERVAL_MS can be set to change
+        # this.
+        time.sleep(5.1)
         server = grpc.server(server_pool, (handler,))
         server.add_insecure_port('[::]:{}'.format(port))
         server.start()