TORONTO – Scientific experts advising Ontario on the pandemic are ready to publish new recommendations on rapid tests, and one of the group’s leaders says it makes sense to use the tests more often.
Dr. Peter Juni, scientific director of the Ontario COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Board, said the group plans to publish a scientific report on the issue on Wednesday. The group’s communications director later said it would be released in the next few days.
There have been increasing calls for testing to become more available as COVID-19 cases increase. While it is not yet clear how they work with the new Omicron variant, Juni said they are effective with the Delta variant which accounts for the majority of Ontario cases.
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“It makes sense from a scientific perspective to use rapid tests more frequently, for example, in schools, workplaces, in collective settings, and to make rapid tests more available in this province,” Juni said in an interview.
Opposition lawmakers have been calling for the province to distribute rapid tests more widely, particularly in schools.
Rapid tests are currently offered free of charge to companies and are also sold in some pharmacies for asymptomatic people who have not been in contact with a confirmed case.
They have also been distributed in schools in high transmission areas for students with symptoms of COVID-19 or considered a close contact of a confirmed case. The government has also said it plans to send all students home with five quick tests over the December break.
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But apart from that vacation plan, rapid tests have not been made available to all students, although families from across the province have sought to access them.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said Tuesday that Ontarians have access to some form of COVID-19 test for free in most cases.
“The only time we really ask people to pay for tests is if they need it to travel, which I think is fair,” he said.
Ontario offers free PCR testing to people with COVID-19 symptoms, close contacts of a case, and members of certain groups. Those tests are available at testing centers and pharmacies, among other places, and the province says most results are ready in 48 hours.
The results of most rapid tests are available in about 15 minutes, depending on the province.
A spokeswoman for the minister said the province currently has 5.75 million rapid antigen tests in its inventory and, as of Nov. 29, has delivered 33.35 million.
Ontario has been distributing about a million tests each week and it is increasing over the holiday period, Alexandra Hilkene said. That includes 11 million tests destined for First Nations and public schools and tests that will be sent to emerging sites in higher-risk areas, he said.
Ontario’s chief physician, Dr. Kieran Moore, said the province is working with the federal government to expand its testing strategy and expects to make an announcement on increased availability of tests in the coming weeks.
Liberal leader John Fraser said faster tests should be delivered, particularly in the winter months, which have generally seen an increase in infections.
“I’m still puzzled why millions and millions of rapid tests are in unused, undistributed warehouses, when jurisdictions around the world that use rapid tests, are giving them to families, they are giving them to people. at airports, “he said.” It’s just another tool to protect us. “
Andrea Horwath, leader of the NDP, said Monday that testing should be free for everyone.
“No one should have to pay for a quick test. That should be part of our public health system, ”he said.
– With files from Maan Alhmidi
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca