The country doesn't have enough testing capacity, and might never get it | CBC News - Kelly Crowe:
April 9, 2020 - "'We're ready, we're prepared.' Those were the confident words from Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health in a news briefing [January 25]. The province already had a 'specific and reliable' coronavirus test that could deliver results in 24 hours.... 'Folks, it will still be business as normal,' said Peter Donnelly, head of Public Health Ontario, at the same briefing. Through the unforgiving lens of hindsight, they could not have been more wrong....
"One week after the province closed schools, shops and prohibited large gatherings [on March 17] many labs were overwhelmed. By the first weekend, Ontario had a backlog of more than 7,200 tests. B.C. also reported a backlog, as did Alberta, Quebec and Manitoba. Almost immediately, provinces began restricting who could be tested — limiting it to front-line health-care workers, people with severe symptoms and those who work with vulnerable groups.
"Over the past week, the backlogs have cleared, but restrictions on testing still remain in most parts of Canada. And ... testing will continue to be limited, even in Ontario which has just announced it will soon be able to test 19,000 people a day.... 'Even when we're at 19,000 tests a day we're not going to be able to test everybody and that would be the same in every other jurisdiction,' said Vanessa Allen, chief of medical microbiology at Public Health Ontario, the government agency responsible for provincial labs....
"Media reports on Tuesday [April 7] revealed that Ontario's testing rate was dropping to just over 2,500 per day, but the province said it could run about 13,000. Why isn't Ontario testing more?
"The Ministry of Health had the accounting firm KPMG organize all the labs in the province that are capable of microbial testing. That includes 10 hospital networks, six public health labs and three private lab networks. Added up, they can do 13,000 tests per day, and expect to reach 19,000 in three weeks. But that extra capacity was created suddenly, which means there weren't enough patient samples waiting to be tested, because there are still testing restrictions in place....
"One consequence of the low level of testing across Canada is that no one has a clear idea how big the epidemic is in this country ... said Ashleigh Tuite, an epidemiologist with the University of Toronto. The low rate is frustrating Tuite and other epidemiologists who are trying to create models of the disease, which politicians are using to support their decisions.... Right now, the reliability of the models is affected by the under-reporting of cases. 'Until we have a consistent amount of testing in the population I think it's hard for me to say that I have confidence in those projections,' said Tuite."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/coronavirus-covid19-testing-canada-1.5527219
"One week after the province closed schools, shops and prohibited large gatherings [on March 17] many labs were overwhelmed. By the first weekend, Ontario had a backlog of more than 7,200 tests. B.C. also reported a backlog, as did Alberta, Quebec and Manitoba. Almost immediately, provinces began restricting who could be tested — limiting it to front-line health-care workers, people with severe symptoms and those who work with vulnerable groups.
"Over the past week, the backlogs have cleared, but restrictions on testing still remain in most parts of Canada. And ... testing will continue to be limited, even in Ontario which has just announced it will soon be able to test 19,000 people a day.... 'Even when we're at 19,000 tests a day we're not going to be able to test everybody and that would be the same in every other jurisdiction,' said Vanessa Allen, chief of medical microbiology at Public Health Ontario, the government agency responsible for provincial labs....
"Media reports on Tuesday [April 7] revealed that Ontario's testing rate was dropping to just over 2,500 per day, but the province said it could run about 13,000. Why isn't Ontario testing more?
"The Ministry of Health had the accounting firm KPMG organize all the labs in the province that are capable of microbial testing. That includes 10 hospital networks, six public health labs and three private lab networks. Added up, they can do 13,000 tests per day, and expect to reach 19,000 in three weeks. But that extra capacity was created suddenly, which means there weren't enough patient samples waiting to be tested, because there are still testing restrictions in place....
"One consequence of the low level of testing across Canada is that no one has a clear idea how big the epidemic is in this country ... said Ashleigh Tuite, an epidemiologist with the University of Toronto. The low rate is frustrating Tuite and other epidemiologists who are trying to create models of the disease, which politicians are using to support their decisions.... Right now, the reliability of the models is affected by the under-reporting of cases. 'Until we have a consistent amount of testing in the population I think it's hard for me to say that I have confidence in those projections,' said Tuite."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/coronavirus-covid19-testing-canada-1.5527219
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