By Chris Brown

Smaller centres this month, early next

Alberta expanding rapid testing program

Dec 17, 2020 | 10:57 AM

CALGARY, AB – Preparing for an expected increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions, Alberta is expanding rapid, point-of-care testing across the province.

On Dec. 18, the testing will be piloted at long-term care and designated supportive living facilities in the Edmonton Zone, where the highest rates of infection and hospitalization are.

The mobile testing centres will be deployed in the Calgary Zone the week of Dec. 21 and expansion to long-term care and designated supportive living facilities in the rest of the province will come shortly after, says the province.

“It means that we can identify positive cases within hours,” said Health Minister Tyler Shandro.

The further expansion also includes the addition of rapid point-of-care testing at 25 rural hospitals in AHS’s North, Central and South Zones through the rest of December and early January.

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These include the acute care hospitals in: Cardston, Pincher Creek, Brooks, Oyen, Wetaskiwin, Drayton Valley, Drumheller, Rocky Mountain House, Castor, Coronation, Wabasca, Edson, Cold Lake, St. Paul, Elk Point, Peace River, Westlock, Barrhead, Provost, Lac La Biche, Camrose, Wainwright, Hinton, Two Hills and Vegreville.

The Abbott ID NOW and Abbott Panbio COVID-19 are being used in the point-of-care testing.

“Speeding up the identification of positive COVID-19 cases using these rapid tests is important to contain the spread of virus in our communities,” said Dr. William Stokes of Alberta Health Services. “It will also help alleviate some of the pressures we face at the provincial laboratory with these positive samples and this will have even more importance as we roll out more and more of these tests across the province.”

The rapid testing was announced on Nov. 27 for assessment centres in Calgary, Edmonton, Slave Lake, and St. Paul and at the hospital lab in Bonnyville.

It was expanded to Calgary’s Drop-In Centre and Edmonton’s isolation facility on Dec. 7. The province is working to get the systems into homeless shelters in urban and rural locations in the coming weeks.