Though Alberta has recorded its first two presumptive case of COVID-19, testing for coronavirus is reserved for those who fall into risk categories and show symptoms.
Who is tested
To qualify for testing, a person must first show symptoms of a viral infection, says Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health.
Secondly, the person must also have recently travelled outside of Canada.
“We need to make sure we have enough capacity for testing those who are feeling ill, who’ve returned, because those are the people at the highest risk,” she said. “If they’re feeling well, we would not recommend that they’re tested.
“If somebody fits into those categories of exposure and they’re feeling sick — so they have fever, cough — then we would want them as their first point of entry into the system to be calling Health Link,” Hinshaw said.
Testing all travellers who show symptoms reflects a significant expansion for the province’s testing protocol.
Before the second presumptive case was announced Friday, risk categories were limited to people returning from a country that has recorded an outbreak of COVID-19, or been in contact with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19, or have been in a health-care facility anywhere in the world where cases of coronavirus were seen.
If travellers experience flu-related symptoms such as a fever or cough within 14 days of returning to Canada, they should self-isolate and call Health Link at 811 to arrange followup testing, Hinshaw said.
People who came back from countries of concern without symptoms should still stay home for 14 days, Hinshaw said.
How to get tested
If you fall into a risk category, call Health Link at 811. Albertans outside of the province should call 1-866-408-5465.
People can be tested at home, even if they have mild symptoms, Hinshaw said.
“Somebody who is not feeling well, but doesn’t need to be in the hospital can actually have either a public health nurse or a community paramedic come to their home and do the testing,” she said.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical officer of health, says testing for coronavirus is reserved for patients who fall in the risk categories and show symptoms. (Craig Ryan/CBC)
People calling 811 who show more serious symptoms will be transferred to an emergency department and taken to hospital.
Physicians and nurses wearing appropriate protective equipment would do the test in a separate room there, Hinshaw said.
In anticipation of increased demand for testing, Alberta Health Services has begun preparations to set up dedicated assessment centres in every health zone across the province, Hinshaw said.
“In-home testing will happen until the capacity is exceeded, and at that point the assessment centres will be in place for people to go to get tested.”
What does the test look like?
The COVID-19 test Alberta is using is done with a nasopharyngeal swab, which Hinshaw described as “a long thin Q-Tip that goes into the back of the nose to swab that part in the nose that moves down into the throat.”
In other jurisdictions, the test for COVID-19 might be done with a mouth or throat swab.
“We are using the nose swab because our current evidence seems to indicate that this particular swab is very sensitive, and so that’s the one we’ve chosen to go with,” Hinshaw said.
How long does it take to get results?
The swab is placed into a tube with liquid that ensures the virus stays intact and is then sent to Alberta Precision Laboratories in Edmonton or Calgary.
Rural residents must account for the transportation time it takes for the swab to reach the lab. Once the swab arrives at a lab, the test can take up to 24 hours.
Once the results are available, staff from Alberta Health Services will notify the individual, Hinshaw said.
What happens when the test is positive?
Hinshaw said if someone tested positive, health officials would do “contact tracing,” identifying people the patient had been in close contact with while showing symptoms.
“We would make sure that every person who was named on that list had a phone call from public health,” she said.
Everyone on that list of contacts would be asked to stay home for 14 days, whether they were feeling ill or not.
Anyone on that list of contacts who shows symptoms would be tested.
As of Friday, 376 completed tests for COVID-19 have been done in Alberta. Of that number, two were positive.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
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