B.C.’s advocate for seniors says there ought to be fast COVID-19 testing for all workers members at long-term care properties.
Isobel Mackenzie says new measures should be thought of amid the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic and fast assessments, which offer leads to as little as quarter-hour, might help determine workers members with COVID-19 who’re asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic.
“On the top of wave one, we had about 23 care properties in outbreak and now we have now greater than double that,” Mackenzie stated.
“Our strategy and technique in the direction of testing that we took in wave one must look a bit completely different in wave two as a result of the circumstances are completely different.”
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Mackenzie says proper now, long-term care properties solely take a look at workers when there’s an outbreak and completely different services have completely different testing strategies.
“I believe we have to add yet one more layer of safety, and that’s these fast assessments that might permit us to check workers very commonly, even every day, as a result of the take a look at is finished on website and the outcomes are on website in 15 to half-hour. Given the place we’re within the pandemic, I believe that that’s an strategy we ought to be taking, particularly within the Decrease Mainland.”
A latest report by the BC Care Suppliers Affiliation, which speaks for long-term care, assisted residing, unbiased residing and residential well being operators, additionally recommended the use of rapid testing protocols.
When requested why fast testing has been deployed within the movie business and for skilled sports activities groups and never long-term care, provincial well being officer Dr. Bonnie Henry stated Monday fast assessments aren’t a “panacea.”
“It’s not what’s going to clear up our difficulty as a result of the assessments have faults and limitations and also you’d have to check everyone day-after-day,” she stated.
“Sure, they actually do it in some sectors for brief intervals of time however the yield and the amount of testing that that might require is just not on the level the place it might be useful for us as a substitute of the common screening that we’re doing day-after-day.”
When there are outbreaks in long-term care, assessments are carried out on asymptomatic employees and residents as wanted, Henry stated.
There are 60 energetic outbreaks in health-care services, together with 54 long-term care or assisted-living websites and 6 hospitals or acute-care services.
— With recordsdata from The Canadian Press
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