As Alberta continues to be flooded with new COVID-19 cases that are also flooding hospitals, the province’s health authority confirmed Friday that testing for worrisome variants is being significantly reduced to maintain laboratory capacity for general testing of coronavirus.
“Alberta’s COVID-19 testing program will no longer detect variants of concern in all positive COVID-19 test samples,” Alberta Health Services spokesperson Kerry Williamson said in an email to Global News Friday night. Instead, Alberta Precision Laboratories (APL) will begin to detect variants of interest only among target populations, including emergency department and hospital patients, patients involved in outbreaks, healthcare workers and recent international travelers.
“These populations are at increased risk of becoming infected with a variant of concern or of spreading a variant of concern.”
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Global News obtained an internal memo dated September 10 from APL to healthcare providers regarding the change in procedure noting that “positivity rates and overall COVID-19 test volumes have increased rapidly, requiring a change in testing strategy to maintain laboratory capacity and response times. “
“The Alberta testing program is currently completing approximately 10,000 tests per day, and most patients receive their results within 24 to 48 hours,” Williamson told Global News.
He noted that currently, “virtually all COVID-19 cases in Alberta are the delta variant, and the public health measures in place to prevent and control the spread of the virus are now based on the variants of concern that are widespread in our community.” .
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According to Williamson, APL began screening positive COVID-19 cases for worrisome variants in early 2021, but switched to “a specific screening approach last May to meet growing demand during the third wave of the pandemic.”
“APL also continues to carry out whole genome sequencing on hundreds of samples per week to monitor the emergence of new strains in the province,” he said.
The news comes as Alberta tries to increase hospital capacity amid the fourth wave of the pandemic by postponing a significant number of non-urgent surgeries and procedures.
On Friday, Alberta Health announced that 1,473 new cases of COVID-19 had been identified in the past 24 hours. With those new infections, Alberta’s total number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 16,265 on Friday afternoon.
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Alberta Health said 686 people were hospitalized for COVID-19 as of Friday, and 169 of them were in the ICU.
Since COVID-19 cases began to increase rapidly last month, Prime Minister Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw have come under intense scrutiny. which is why some health experts and healthcare professionals have called an inappropriate response. to the fourth wave of the Alberta pandemic.
Last week, the province announced that it would once again require Albertans to wear masks in most indoor public spaces and force bars and restaurants to stop selling liquor after 10 p.m. in an attempt to double the rising curve of COVID-19 infections.
At a news conference at Rocky Mountain House, Alta., On Friday, Shandro said his government would like to see what impact the province’s recent public health measures have on COVID-19 hospitalizations before introducing other restrictions for address the crisis.
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“We take this opportunity to see what that effect is, and for us to continue to see those numbers and the opportunity to continue to work with (Hinshaw) and his office on what might be necessary,” said Shandro.
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