Provinces explore pooled COVID-19 testing, as experts say Canada needs to ramp up capability

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Provinces explore pooled COVID-19 testing, as experts say Canada needs to ramp up capability
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In pooled testing, a combination of samples are tested from a group of up to 50 people. The method has been used in China and Germany

A health worker puts a swab sample in a tube test after collecting it from a patient for a coronavirus test, in Kathmandu on Aug. 28, 2020.With some experts expressing concern that Canada has inadequate resources to continue COVID-19 testing at the current rate, several provinces are exploring a new method that could allow labs to analyze more samples using fewer resources.

Alberta, Ontario, and British Columbia are among the provinces that have been exploring this testing option. In Edmonton, Alberta Precision Labs has been piloting pooled testing with groups of asymptomatic patients since mid-August. The aim to increase testing capacity comes as Alberta’s Chief Public Health Officer recommended teachers and school staff who are asymptomatic get tested, both before starting school and regularly during the year.

Pooled testing has the same level of accuracy as individual tests, said Dr. Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist and assistant professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Furness said that public-health officials should nonetheless encourage asymptomatic people to get tested individually, whether or not pooled testing is available. Testing should be made more accessible to everyone as soon as possible, he added.

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