NDP calls for twice-weekly rapid testing in long-term care homes

The Alberta NDP wants the province to start administering rapid COVID-19 tests twice a week to every resident and staff member in a long-term care facilities as part of an effort to reduce the number of deaths among that vulnerable population.

NDP Leader Rachel Notleysaida person with a positive test result could be isolated immediately and be given a standard PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test to receive a diagnosis.

Notley said quick turnarounds for PCR tests were used to keep players and staff safe during the recent NHL playoffs that took place in Edmonton during August and September.

"To be blunt, if we can test hockey players each and every day, if we put value on doing that, then surely we can do the same or better for residents who are living in fear in continuing care," she said.

She said 150 people in long-term care died due to COVID-19 in November, and asymptomatic staff are unknowingly spreading the disease among residents.

Alberta currently has 867 active cases of COVID-19 connected to long-term care or supportive living homes. Nearly two-thirds of the 631 reported deaths have been in those facilities.

The NDP's call comes after a review prepared for Revera, one of Canada's largest operators of long-term care facilities and seniors' residences, recommended that provinces implement surveillance testing.

• Provinces should adopt surveillance testing to battle COVID-19, long-term care home review says
• Alberta needs new COVID-19 restrictions as province tops 20,000 active cases: Hinshaw

Report author Dr. Bob Bell, a former deputy health minister in Ontario, said in an interview that aired Sunday on CBC that testing should occur daily in areas of high community spread.

In Monday's question period, both Notley and Lori Sigurdson, the NDP critic for seniors' issues, asked Premier Jason Kenney about the possibility of rapid resting in senior's homes.

After criticizing the federal government for taking until this week to ship rapid tests to the provinces, Kenney said they would be "immediately be distributed" to long-term care facilities.

Sigurdsonpressed him on whether tests would be administered twice a week.

"It's becoming apparent that the NDP doesn't even understand the science of the rapid testing," Kenney said, "because it is scientifically useless on people who are asymptomatic.

"We will follow the scientific guidelines of the rapid test producers of Health Canada and the chief medical officer to focus them on individuals who are symptomatic."

The only way to bring cases to zero in long-term care facilities would be to bar visits from family members,he said, "which would itself take an enormous toll on the frail elderly who are struggling right now."

Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, said Monday during her daily update that the province is launching a pilot project with "point of care" rapid test sites in St. Paul, Slave Lake, Calgary and Edmonton.

She said the tests are used on patients withsymptomsduring the first week of their illness. She said the tests are less accurate on people without symptoms and are less sensitive than the standard test.

Hinshaw said rapid tests do have value in identifying possible positive cases and getting those people into isolation as quickly as possible.

"What this test does offer is faster identification of positive cases," she said. "Fast tracking the testing process in this way will allow health-care teams to prioritize the cases that are still infectious and focus efforts where they can have the greatest impact on preventing further transmission."

The province is looking to expanding point-of-care testing to long-term care facilities and homeless shelters, she said.