saskatchewan businesses eye rapid covid-19 testing pilot
"i think there’s wide recognition that workplaces are sort of the frontlines of trying to hold back covid and covid variants."
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by: zak vescerasaskatchewan’s chambers of commerce are hoping to make more than one million rapid covid-19 tests available to businesses as the province struggles to balance economic openness with fighting a variant-fuelled third wave of infections. the saskatchewan chamber of commerce has led talks with the saskatchewan health authority on the proposed pilot, which would see senior governments supply as many as 1.2 million tests with the goal of catching asymptomatic spread before it becomes a crippling outbreak.“it’s just a game-changer,” saskatchewan chamber of commerce ceo steve mclellan said. “any precaution we can take like this until everyone is vaccinated is very, very welcome.”some rapid tests can deliver results within 15 minutes. and while those are less precise than laboratory tests — meaning positive results have to be confirmed through a second test — proponents say regular rapid testing could be another layer of defence. a presentation given to saskatchewan physicians last week warned that approximatelytwo-thirds of the province’s outbreaks from jan. 25 to april 21 happened in workplaces, something that has become more common as more infectious variants continue to gain ground in saskatchewan.“i think there’s wide recognition that workplaces are sort of the frontlines of trying to hold back covid and covid variants,” greater saskatoon chamber of commerce ceo jason aebig said. “so the idea was: can we get these in the hands of more small- and medium-sized businesses so they have the means on a weekly basis to test their workforce, their employees?”aebig said saskatchewan should look east for inspiration. earlier this month, ontario launched a point-of-care testing campaign in the waterloo region with a target of conducting 3,000 rapid tests each week. aebig suggested that model could be useful for medium-sized manufacturers, small retailers, construction companies and other industries where human-to-human contact is inevitable.big corporations might be able to afford their own tests, aebig said, but he believes government support is key to making them accessible for smaller and medium-sized firms.saskatchewan, like other provinces, faced criticism this spring for its sluggish rollout of the more than 1.3 million tests the federal government has delivered to the province.the province has since changed legislation so that health care workers are not required to administer those tests, expanding their potential applications.in a statement, sha spokeswoman lisa thomson said every health care worker in the province would have access to rapid tests by mid-may and that such tests were flowing to long-term and personal care homes, shelters, detox facilities and more, with dentist offices, pharmacies, group homes and the private sector on the horizon.
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“plans are underway to expand the rapid testing program to serve priority populations as well members in our business community,” thomson wrote.aebig said the initial pitch was to supply businesses 1.2 million rapid tests to test 10,000 employees twice a week for six weeks. aebig said finding that supply is not the issue, since health canada could purchase more tests, but mclellan said there are still sticking points over who can conduct the tests and how participating businesses will report positive results to the sha.“one of the hurdles here is that businesses may have to fax in the results (to the sha),” mclellan said. “and where the hell are they going to find fax machines?”aebig said their priority is not to siphon resources from the strapped health care system and make sure the pilot meets the sha’s standards, adding he believes the only substantial barriers are bureaucratic hoops rather than substantive disagreements over how the program should work.“it’s largely administrative,” aebig said. “sha has not really stood up its rapid screening approach for businesses just yet, and we understand that is imminent.“part of the challenge here, really, it seems like everyone is sort of building the plane as they’re flying it.”zvescera@postmedia.com twitter.com/zakveserathe news seems to be flying at us faster all the time. from covid-19 updates to politics and crime and everything in between, it can be hard to keep up. with that in mind, the saskatoon starphoenix has created an afternoon headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox to help make sure you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. click here to subscribe.
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