Is it the beginning of the end of COVID-19 testing?

Since the earliest days of the pandemic, COVID-19 testing has never been less accessible for the general public and one expert says the testing tides have changed for the foreseeable future.

"This is the beginning of the end of testing as we know it, or as we've seen it before," said Brenda Wilson, a public health physician and dean of community health at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Wilson, who was a member of the federal government's formerCOVID-19 Testing and Screening Expert Advisory Panel, noted jurisdictions across North America are changing rules on widespread testing for COVID-19.

In Ontario, publicly funded PCR testing has been strained since before the holidays, and the government has since announced only priority groupswill get tested.

"We have shifted pretty much to a much more selective testing," said Wilson. "With Omicron being so incredibly transmissible, and having spread to so many people, there'sreally no way that any of the health system can keep up with ... the way we've done it so far."

Though it depends on whether new variants emerge and how the disease spreads, Wilson believes there will be a gradual shift to testing fewer people much like how public health units don't regularly test people for influenza.

This is the beginning of the end of testing as we know it, or as we've seen it before.- Brenda Wilson, Memorial University of Newfoundland

She says main indicators for COVIDshifted from "who does and doesn't have [COVID]" to its impact on the health-care system.

"As this pandemic comes to an end, as we move into living with COVIDand whatever endemic COVID is,I think we will see less and less testing," she said.

With less focus on PCR testing, health units and labs are able to redirect personnel and resources to other needs, she added.

Though not as accurate, Wilson said individuals will rely more on rapid tests when seeking information on their health. Meanwhile, policy makers who need surveillance of community spread will turn more toward other methods such as wastewater testing.

Testing not going anywhere, says expert

Kwame McKenzie, the CEO of the non-profit policy think tankWellesley Institute, says though restricted,Canada is actually conducting more total testsfor COVID-19 than ever before in the pandemic.

"People think fewer tests are being done. In fact, more tests are being done. The volume of tests that we're actually doing at the moment across Canada is muchgreater than it ever was," he said.

The volume of tests that we're actually doing at the moment across Canada is muchgreater than it ever was.- Kwame McKenzie, Wellesley Institute

McKenzie, who was alsopart of the federal government's former expert advisory committee on testing, said many factors can change in the near future regarding the PCR testing threshold,and society will still rely on COVID testsover the next few months.

"I would be very surprised if this is the beginning of the end of testing," said McKenzie, noting Omicron has likely infected only a small portion of the population so far.

With schools reopening and people eventually returning to work in person, he believes there will be anothersignificant expansion of COVID-19 testing in the community, including both PCR and rapid tests

"While we've reached the capacity of our testing ... we will still be testing for the foreseeable future," he said.

WATCH | Think tank CEO says testing more important than ever:

COVID-19 testing crucial for making informed decisions, policy expert says

3 years ago

Duration 1:39

Kwame McKenzie, the CEO of the policy think tank Wellesley Institute, says the availability of COVID-19 testing whether at-home or PCR is crucial and gives people the information they need to make informed choices.

He said without accessible testing, people will know less and less about their ownhealth and the impact they have on others around them.

"As soon as we make these things difficult to get, then we will bake in inequities into the impacts of the pandemic," said McKenzie.

"We're at a disappointing position ... where people can't make free choices about what they need and getting theinformation they need, in order to protect their health."

Wastewater replaces PCR testing as key measure

Tyson Graber, a scientist and co-lead investigator on the Ottawa wastewater project, saysclinical PCR testing is extremely important as part of a pandemic surveillance system, but it is expensive and requires a lot of personnel.

Wastewater testing, meanwhile, is more affordable, robust and sustainable in the long term, he says.

"Wastewater testing might becomemore kind of thissentinel surveillance mechanism where we can test very efficiently, in other words, large numbers of people all at the same time," he said.

"Hopefully wastewater testing will become more important and clinical testing can be dialled back overthe long term, but certainly there's still a need for [clinical testing]."

He did note PCR tests provideinformation on how the diseaseaffectscertain age groups something wastewater can't.

The group responsible for PCR testing in Ottawa says it will continue to follow criteria set out by Ontario for testing reliability and it won't change course on its own.

"While the role of COVID-19testinghas shifted, that strategy is set by the Government of Ontario. Thetaskforceis applying that strategy and has not created a separate policy for Ottawa," a spokesperson said in an email.