(DIR) Home
Ottawa will stop providing COVID-19 rapid tests to regions
(HTM) Source
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Canadian government plans to stop supplying provinces and
territories with free COVID-19 rapid tests, which has an infection
control epidemiologist worried about two-tiered health care, increased
spread and increased health-care costs.
"The federal government continues to support Canada's rapid testing
needs while the federal inventory remains," Health Canada spokesperson
Nicholas Janveau told CBC News.
"That said, rapid test programming was and continues to be a
provincial/territorial responsibility."
Ottawa currently has about 70 million of the tests, which people can
use at home to screen for the virus. About 3.6 million of these have
already expired and are ineligible for distribution.
The tests usually come in boxes of five or 10, reducing the inventory
to 11.5 million test kits.
> Given the current COVID-19 outlook, inventory levels, and indicated
> testing demands, the federal government does not anticipate the need
> for additional federal procurements at this time.\- Nicholas
> Janveau, Health Canada spokesperson
Canada's estimated population, as of Jan. 1, is nearly 41 million,
according to Statistics Canada.
More than three million of the tests are also already spoken for. A
number of provinces and territories requested them and they are in
various stages of deployment.
While Health Canada has authorized extending the shelf life of some
rapid tests, all of the tests in the federal inventory will expire by
December, said Janveau.
"Given the current COVID-19 outlook, inventory levels, and indicated
testing demands, the federal government does not anticipate the need
for additional federal procurements at this time," he said in an
emailed statement.
## Public health should not be based on 'ability to pay'
Infection control epidemiologist Colin Furness, a self-described
"early and strong proponent of rapid tests," who has spent years
saying more resources are needed to fight the pandemic, said he's not
surprised Ottawa wants to "get out of the testing game" and doesn't
blame the federal government since health care is a provincial and
territorial responsibility.
The problem, said Furness, is that if the jurisdictions don't step up
to provide free, or at least subsidized tests, people will be forced
to buy them if they want to know whether they're COVID-positive and
should take measures to prevent transmission. And this creates a
divide.
Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and associate
professor at the University of Toronto, contends free rapid tests
should continue to be available through provinces and territories
because there are still enough people who care if they're COVID-
positive and want to avoid getting anyone else sick. (Katarina Kuruc)
"Public health should not be based on your ability to pay," said
Furness, an associate professor at the University of Toronto.
Some people can afford to buy rapid tests, available at some
pharmacies, stores and online for about $7 plus tax per test, but
"many can't."
"I think we should be very cognizant that rapid tests are part of what
makes us healthy. It's part of health care. It's a diagnostic [tool]
and it just doesn't make sense to commodify it," said Furness. "It's
just going to create sickness and sickness is expensive for
everybody."
## N.B. to determine next steps for its program
At least one province is mulling the future of its COVID-19 rapid
point-of-care testing program. Last week, New Brunswick said demand
for the tests has declined steadily since last fall, and the province
is "determining next steps."
New Brunswick has an adequate supply of the tests, which are all due
to expire in September, said Department of Health spokesperson Sean
Hatchard.
He did not say how many, but the federal government's website shows
New Brunswick had an estimated inventory of 147,000 tests from Ottawa,
as of last June — the smallest stockpile in the country. The
department has previously said it has an additional reserve of tests,
however, beyond what is reported on the federal website.
Hatchard did not say if the province plans to order any more.
## Lack of public health policies, messaging
Furness said it's no surprise demand for rapid tests has dropped
because public health officials across the country aren't telling
people to test.
"They're going along with the narrative that really there isn't any
more COVID, or very little, and this is not something you need to
worry about," he said.
Similarly, there are no COVID policies, said Furness.
Public health officials have been encouraging people to take
responsibility for their own health but a lack of available COVID-19
tests will interfere with that, argued Furness. (CBC)
"I mean, what good is it to test positive if you still have to go to
work because you need to feed your family and you don't have any paid
sick days, right?
"What good is a rapid test when public health guidance says, 'Well, as
long as you feel pretty good and you're not coughing too hard, you
should go ahead and go to work?'"
## Stay home when sick, regardless of testing
Testing is an important tool to limit the spread of COVID-19, along
with personal protective measures and vaccination, the Health Canada
spokesperson acknowledged.
"Rapid tests may be used to quickly identify if you have COVID-19, and
isolate if the result is positive," said Janveau.
Still, the Public Health Agency of Canada recommends anyone who feels
sick or has COVID-like symptoms stay home and limit their contact with
others — regardless of whether they've tested positive or not, he
said.
## Federal strategic reserve no longer maintained
Ottawa ordered more than 811 million rapid tests throughout the
pandemic, at a cost of about $5 billion. Of those, roughly 680 million
went to provincial and territorial rapid testing programs.
The free COVID-19 rapid tests commonly come in boxes of five. (Jeff
McIntosh/The Canadian Press)
A federal strategic reserve of rapid tests was maintained until Dec.
31, to ensure tests were readily available in Canada in case of future
COVID-19 waves or an increase in demand, said Janveau.
While that reserve is no longer maintained, "provinces and territories
have continued to receive rapid tests from the federal inventory upon
request and while supplies last," he said.
To date, about 12.6 million expired tests have been disposed of from
the federal inventory. Janveau did not respond to questions about the
costs involved.
______________________________________________________________________
Served by Flask-Gopher/2.2.1