RAPID COVID TESTING
Call for border virus checks
Windsor West MP Brian Masse is calling on the federal government to implement voluntary rapid COVID-19 testing at the Windsor-detroit border.
“The men and women who serve our border every single day are on the front lines, having to deal with many people — thousands who still cross back and forth,” Masse said in an announcement in Windsor on Wednesday.
Masse said he has written to Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair about the issue, asking for federal government attention and resources, such as making Panbio COVID-19 Ag rapid test devices available to border workers.
Produced by Abbott Laboratories, the devices are advertised as being able to identify potentially COVID-19 contagious individuals in less than 20 minutes.
Masse noted that the Canadian government purchased more than 20 million of the devices last October, for deployment in COVID-19 hot spots, as deemed necessary.
“We've seen our cases explode in this region,” Masse said. “The reality is that exposure is high — and we have these tools available.”
Masse's request has the backing of Local 18 of the Customs and Immigration Union, representing Windsor-essex employees of the Canada Border Services Agency.
Local 18 president Ken Turner joined Masse for his announcement on Wednesday: “We are in full support of the initiative.”
Turner said Local 18 has around 300 members working for the CBSA, about 20 of whom have contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic last March.
“We are not positive they contracted it at work. We know some were the result of community spread and spouses who work in the health-care field,” Turner said.
The majority of those cases have been resolved. Turner said only a handful are currently considered active.
Despite no outbreak at local CBSA workplaces, Masse and Turner believe the Windsor-detroit border's level of activity justifies more federal focus.
Masse cited a pilot project for rapid testing at the border community of Coutts, Alta., which has a port of entry with Montana.
According to Masse, the project at Coutts found 1.45 per cent of more than 18,000 participants tested positive for COVID-19 as of mid-december.
Masse believes the results on the community would be dramatic and almost immediate.