Alberta commits $10M to serology testing to study COVID-19 spread
Intense analysis of blood’s antibodies to ‘help all jurisdictions moving forward’
The Alberta government announced Tuesday it will invest $10 million into serology testing to better study and understand the spread of COVID-19 by analyzing antibodies to the novel coronavirus in Albertans’ blood.
Four separate serology studies are planned that could offer Alberta Health Services further insight into what is a relatively unknown and new coronavirus.
Serology tests are blood tests that look for antibodies — proteins that are made in response to infections — which can detect infections even in people who developed few or no symptoms.
Two of the studies will measure the prevalence of antibodies among children in Calgary and Edmonton until 2022, one study will test samples of blood anonymously that were collected for other purposes in every corner of the province, and a fourth study will test select Albertans over the age of 45.
“We know that there are people who have been infected and were never tested. Many of them, simply because they never got sick. That’s where serology testing comes in,” Health Minister Tyler Shandro said during Tuesday’s news conference.
“It shows us more about how the virus is spreading and how best to contain it.”
Serology testing does have limits. For example, it can’t tell if a person is immune to COVID-19 or for how long a person might be immune, or if a person is currently sick or contagious. But it does offer valuable information to researchers who are working to analyze the new coronavirus.
“Serology testing will help us find out and contribute to the global evidence, which will help all jurisdictions moving forward,” said Shandro.
Alberta Health is collaborating with other provinces, territories and the federal government to ensure their methodology is comparable, said Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw.
“So, we’ll see what proportion of the population may potentially have been exposed to COVID -19 in the past several months, and then use that information to help us understand what proportion may not have been captured with our lab testing program,” said Hinshaw.
Alberta Precision Laboratories will also offer serology testing for specific clinical purposes and funded population-level serology research studies.
Hinshaw reported another 45 cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, though the number of active cases dropped by 10 from 542 on Monday to 532 due to the number of confirmed recoveries.
A total of 7,781 cases have been confirmed in Alberta and there have been 7,096 recoveries since the first case was detected.
“I was thinking today how there was snow on the ground on March 5, that long-ago day when we identified Alberta’s first case of COVID-19. Now, summer is officially here. I know especially after weeks of staying in that many people are excited to get out and enjoy the too few warm and sunny days,” said Hinshaw.
“We’ve come a long way, keeping our case numbers and hospitalization rates low. Let’s all continue to protect one another by acting responsibly and doing our best to follow the guidance every single day.”
The number of hospitalizations increased to 37 on Tuesday from 32 the previous day, including six
There was snow on the ground on March 5, that long-ago day when we identified Alberta’s first case.
requiring intensive care. No new deaths were reported Tuesday, leaving the death toll in Alberta at 153.
Of the active cases, 230 are in the Calgary zone, 236 in the Edmonton zone, 36 in the North zone, 22 in the South zone, three in the Central zone and five in unknown locations. About 57 per cent of hospitalizations and 50 per cent of ICU admissions are in the Calgary zone.
AHS surpassed 400,000 completed tests Tuesday after completing 6,537 in the past 24 hours. Hinshaw said 800 samples were delayed in getting tested due to a transportation issue. Of these tests, six were positive for COVID -19, so AHS is working on contact tracing and some who tested negative will need to be retested. Those people will be contacted by AHS.