Rapid testing increased, but not added here
Alberta Health is increasing the number of locations where a rapid test for COVID is done but Medicine Hat is not yet on the list.
The government announced three weeks ago it was starting to use the Abbott IDNow and Pan Bio COVID-19 testing kits purchased by the federal government and sent here earlier this fall. The test can provide results in about 15 minutes.
Initially Alberta was using them only at one assessment centre in Calgary, another in Edmonton. They are also only for people who are in the first seven days of symptoms. Any negative test result is subject to confirmation by the existing lab-based polymer chain-reaction testing method in the lab.
A spokesperson for Alberta Health Services says doing the PCR tests after a rapid test will continue when the result is negative.
Rapid tests are also for research purposes.
“We are starting to deploy rapid point-of-care testing in clinical pilots in order to continue gathering data for our evaluations on the sensitivity of rapid testing systems compared to in-lab PCR testing. At the same time, it is being used to diagnose patients, as positive results are considered valid,” said Kerry Williamson, spokesperson for AHS.
Abbott’s website states that the IDNow has a sensitivity of 95 per cent and specificity of 97.9 per cent within seven days of the onset of symptoms.
AHS received more than 800,000 rapid tests from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Health Minister Tyler Shandro announced Friday that the government had identified 25 rural hospitals in other zones for expansion of the rapid test clinical pilots. Specific dates for the launch have not been given and Medicine Hat is not on the initial list.
Williamson says Medicine Hat Regional Hospital’s laboratory is capable of doing COVID-19 testing quickly.
Shandro said more than 1,000 people have been given a rapidtest, and 76 of those were positive. Those individuals were notified within hours of the result.
“Alberta Precision Laboratories and Alberta Health Services have undertaken significant work to evaluate the effectiveness of rapid point-of-care testing systems and how they can add the most value to our provincewide COVID-19 testing program,” said Mauro Chies, board chair, Alberta Precision Laboratories.
“Our integrated provincial lab service allows us to quickly implement and scale up the use of new equipment and processes for the benefit of all Albertans.”