Province finally expands asymptomatic rapid testing

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/05/2021 (1689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Following months of calls from business leaders and store-owners, Manitoba’s health minister announced Wednesday the province is expanding asymptomatic rapid testing for COVID-19 to 35 companies and community services.

But stakeholders and advocates say more needs to be done, especially when compared to other provinces which have already ramped up their rapid testing and are now reaping the benefits — with business reopenings and early confirmation of coronavirus cases in workplace settings that would otherwise go undetected.

“I am pleased to see the number of new businesses coming on board to provide rapid testing to their employees,” said Minister Heather Stefanson in a statement, noting the new initiative is in addition to the targeted testing already happening for screening or diagnostic purposes in some areas of the province, like select personal care homes and rural communities.

“Using rapid tests in this targeted way helps protect Manitobans by limiting the spread of COVID-19 in our community… We are happy to be onboarding more partners daily.”

Around 200,000 rapid tests will be deployed as part of the new program, with self-testing and in-work testing models available. Those antigen-based rapid tests — most of which will use nasal swabs — do not require a health-care professional to administer them. Red River College is supporting the program by offering participants a two-hour virtual training module on the test and nasal swabbing.

“This is great news that it’s happening and it lays a good foundation, but the way for it to be truly successful is for it to be expanding to more businesses far and wide,” said Loren Remillard, president and CEO of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

The Winnipeg and Manitoba chambers have written repeatedly to the province with a thorough protocol for how rapid testing can be ramped up. Those measures are yet to be implemented.

“Small and medium-sized businesses are inherently public-facing and so those businesses need to be provided these tests as soon as possible now,” said Remillard. “They’re the ones at the front lines of this and increased testing for them will also provide a much-needed boost to consumer confidence.”

Nova Scotia has been on board with rapid tests from the very beginning, while the technology remained underused in Manitoba.

“Our province, like Manitoba, certainly took its time with this, too,” said Ryan Mallough, Ontario director for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, who’d been lobbying his government to ramp up rapid testing with little result until earlier this month, when Premier Doug Ford announced over 760,000 test kits across the province.

“There’s no reason why Manitoba can’t do more,” said Mallough, pointing to the federal government sending hundreds of thousands of tests to the province since January. “What we definitely shouldn’t want is tests collecting dust on shelves.”

Retail chain Princess Auto is one of the firms receiving the rapid tests. Heather Turnbull‑Smith​, vice-president of the company, called it “simply one more voluntary option for our team members to use to protect themselves and ultimately our community.”

Antonio Cianflone, president of Pizza Hotline, said his business locations across Manitoba will be implementing the rapid testing for kitchen staff and delivery drivers twice a week if they’re OK with it.

“We want to make sure our staff is on board with this, but overall we’re all very excited because this is something we’d been asking for a while,” Cianflone said Wednesday.

 

“When COVID hit us, we all had this fear about what to do. And still a year later, that fear hasn’t completely gone away. Something like this provides an opportunity to remove some of that fear, understanding that this is something we can detect and for which we can take action before it causes any such problems.”

The Winnipeg Football Club’s president Wade Miller said its participation in the new rapid testing program is meant to give stadium and operations staff another level of protection, but it doesn’t mean potential fans in stands.

“We still have a stadium to manage and operate as well, there’s people who need to be here at the stadium every day to keep the facility going and the maintenance of it. Those people don’t have the ability to work from home either,” Miller said.

“We have (Blue Bombers) that are training in the city now and staff that are working with them. It allows them to test at home before they come to their workplace.”

— with files from Erik Pindera

temur.durrani@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @temurdur

BG-Rapid_Testing_Screening_Strategy-HSC