Manitoba questions effectiveness of rapid COVID tests while others push for more access

The Manitoba government hasn't exactly been the biggest booster of COVID-19 rapid tests.

It has repeatedly warned thesetests offer a false sense of security. It has yet to make at-home testing kits widely available to the general public.

Elsewhere, it's a different story.

In Nova Scotia, you can grab booze at the liquor store or take out alibrary book and pick up a free rapid test simultaneously.In Saskatchewan, you can fill up on gas at Co-op stations and leave with a free at-home test.

Severalprovinces are offering freetests to the families of school-aged children, though the criteria differs by jurisdiction.

"To me, it seems like other provinces are starting to catch up and realize how important these tests are, but Manitoba still has not really been making thesetestswidely available," saidDeannaSanter,an assistantprofessorin immunology at the University of Manitoba.

55% of Manitoba's supply sent out

As of November, the province has distributed nearly 1.5 million of its2.7 million tests.

There are growing calls for Manitoba to make these testsavailable to anyone who wants them for free, though ithas been reluctant thus far.

Dr. Jazz Atwal, deputy chief provincial public health officer for Manitoba, said holiday revellers shouldn't put their hopes in rapid tests to ensure a COVID-free celebration.

"Rapid antigen tests aren'tvery useful in that situation, so there's a lot of evidence supporting that. We're trying to utilize tests in the most effective manner," he said ata briefing, adding "it's almostimpossible to mitigate risk completely when we're looking at asymptomatic testing ... and it's not a good use of resources."

In recentmonths, governments throughout the world have dispensed rapid tests tomore locations. It's seen not as a replacement for PCR tests, but a complement ado-it-yourself version,primarily in use at schools and businesses in Canada,that shows results in around 15 minutes.

Manitoba has tasked the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce to organize the distribution of at-home testing kits forbusinesses that want them. The chamber said more than 5,000 people have engaged with its onlineportal, but it doesn't mean all of them made orders.

The province also provides tests for public-sectoremployeeswho've chosen mandatory testing rather than gettinginoculated against the virus.

At this time, the province isn't making these at-home kitsbroadly available to the general public, even amidrising COVID-19 case counts, the emergence of theomicron variant and a holiday season in whichlarge gatherings are being held. Tests can be purchased for a cost at some pharmacies.

"We definitely could be using these rapid antigen tests more than we are right now,"Santersaid.

She acknowledgesthe shortcomings ofat-home tests, which usea swab to look for specific proteins made by COVID-19.People who are asymptomatic or in the early stages of infection may not have a lot of viral protein, and thus COVID may not be detected.

Still, Santer argues the province could use rapid tests tostoppotential outbreaksparticularly in schools where students are not fully vaccinatedbefore theyspread.

Stopping outbreakin its track

"Ifwe could even catch a few more peopleright beforehaving symptoms and then they didn't go to school, they didn't go to work, that's still going to save a lot of spread," she said in an interview.

"The main thing is that the tests, even though they're not perfect, it can still be useful tofind people that could be contagious because we do know before you have full-blown symptoms that you could still be contagious."

Asked to explain why Manitoba isn't dispensing rapid tests far and wide, the province didn't answer but warned of its limitations.

It cited data that suggests rapid tests have under 30 per cent sensitivity in detecting asymptomatic cases, versus70 per cent sensitivityfor symptomatic cases. "Inother words, they do not catch asymptomatic cases very well," it said.

The province added that its asymptomatic screening of hospital patients before an operation suggests that at least 500 people would have to be tested with rapid tests to find a single COVID-19 case.

But these tests have "considerable utility" in places where there are COVID-19 outbreaks and high-risk situations, the spokesperson said.

"The province anticipates ongoing, and perhaps increased, use of them in the near future."

NDP health critic UzomaAsagwarasaid rapid tests are an extra piece of protection in thepandemic toolkit, and thus shouldn't remain instorage.

"We've heard from folks over the weekend who would love access to rapid tests to make sure that they're not missing school, they're not missing work, they can take their kids to their doctors," the MLA said.

Last week,federal health ministerJean-Yves Duclossaid Ottawa would soon deliver a large amount of rapid tests to provinces and territoriessince the demand for them has increased significantly.

Manitoba questions effectiveness of rapid COVID tests

3 years ago

Duration 1:39

The Manitoba government hasn't exactly been the biggest booster of COVID-19 rapid tests. It has repeatedly warned these tests offer a false sense of security. It has yet to make at-home testing kits widely available to the general public. Elsewhere, it's a different story.