CBC has the Prime Ministers news conference saying 140Million rapid tests coming. Distributed to provinces on per capita basis, so quick math says 4M tests coming to NS. 4 for every person. Is that enough? I don’t know. But it’s something.
Posted Jan 5, 2022, 4:57 PM UTC
They said later in the conference that it’s one per person per week in Jan. More coming. Interested to see what happens.
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The fed health minister or PM said that not me. Can’t remember which. But the new stuff coming may be in not boxes of 5
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Yeah it’s more tests coming for all Cdns. He did shout out Ns for covid testing with rapids prior to current situation
How much money is the government spending on these stupid tests. Couldn't the money be better spent on things to actually improve our healthcare system
If we could increase our testing rate by about 10 times, we could control the pandemic with tests and vaccines alone. It would be much cheaper and less disruptive.
You're delusional if you think rapid tests will control the pandemic, lmao
Especially because the tests are only 50% accurate at confirming omicron. Heard of some people doing 4 rapid tests with all negative, then finally on the 5th, the got a positive.
Yes and they only detect a high viral load. So you're already spreading it for a while before the test will catch it.
Yeah I was sick beginning of December, sore throat, etc. did 3 tests and all came up negative. Could’ve been nothing, was also sleeping on an uncomfortable couch in a cold room. But still.. not comforting.
Also, I hope after delta variant and now omicron, that we are being proactive with our sequencing to detect new variants before they appear.
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Rapid tests are highly accurate at detecting people who are infectious. If done frequently, you will find out before you have a chance to infect more than one person on average, which is enough to control the pandemic. In fact, if you test every day, rapid tests are close to 100% accurate.
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50-60% accurate for Omicron with rapid tests according to PH. My friend has been sick and got a positive PCR after a negative rapid tests and still tested negative on two addition rapid tests 1 and 3 days after her PCR swab while waiting for the results. I’ve been symptomatic since Monday and have had 2 negative rapid tests and a PCR booked for tomorrow as I still feel like garbage.
That order is over 900 million
Attta hittt
It's a good call stan
Isn't 4 for every person less than 1 test kit per person? Or do they mean 140m packages of 5?
There’s no requirement that they be distributed in packages of 5. I imagine they’ll stick with the current protocol of booking an appt to pickup a test and distribute only as many as that person/family requires.
They don’t come prepackaged in sets of 5. That’s just how the province has chosen to package and distribute them.
The ones in the green boxes are prepackaged by the manufacturer.
And the Abbott ones aren't; dozens of volunteers having been taking them from the manufacturers' packages and putting them together in sets of 5. How do I know? I'm a volunteer.
When you sign up to get rapid tests, They give you a prepackaged box of 5. Doesn’t matter how large your family is. It’s done individually.
If your kids needs rapid tests you gotta use their health card to get them a box. That’s the current protocol.
Depends which tests kits they’re provided. I’ve had Rapid Response in boxes of 5, yea, but Abbott and BD in bags of 2-3 as well.
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That's not a law or set or stone. That's just what they were doing when they gave out hundreds of thousands at libraries with literally no plan right before Christmas. Then all of a sudden we're in short supply. Surprise!
I got a package of 2
But when you sign up for an appointment on the website to grab rapid test kits, you don't have to put in any health card info at all. All I had to do was put in my name and contact info, and boom... Appointment.
If everyone was going to be vigilant in testing them no, it would likely not be adequate. But I think a lot of folks aren’t going to bother testing unless they are super sick. Folks I have seen on this sub testing every day when they have even mild symptoms are going to be the outlier I think.
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Kind of hard to do that when you boss insists you come to work as long as you’re tested negative 48 hours apart per PH guidelines…
That’s tested negative twice, 48hrs appart, after you’ve isolated for 72hrs(3days).
So if you’re symptomatic, you’re getting a minimum of 5 days off work whether your boss likes it or not.
I don’t think you need to isolate after symptoms, only if you been exposed. If it’s symptoms the instructions are to test twice 48 hours apart and isolate until no longer sick. There’s no waiting period before testing, according to the last instruction I received as of last week.
Edit: not saying I’m arguing this is sufficient to rule out covid at all, in fact the opposite, just saying this is what PH guidelines are.
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Yes. I’m aware. But “assuming” I’m a close contact doesn’t work for my boss or most bosses. For the record - I treat myself as I am exposed daily, because I likely am by nature if my work. I also isolate, test, and assume it’s covid when symptomatic. If it were up to me I’d be isolating ten days past my symptoms. I stayed home as long as I can. I am no longer symptomatic. My tests continue to be negative. I have rent to pay. My boss knows all this and is recently covid recovered himself so doesn’t give a fuck. He wants $.
I’m just saying it’s hard for people to go above and beyond the admittedly short sighted PH guidelines when their jobs are put in jeopardy.
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It’s not enough but it will suffice for now as long as it’s distributed properly
It's crazy how many tests we need. We are a family of 3, not in high risk. One works from home, and one student and athlete.
We've already gone through at least 6 boxes because of some close contact and public exposure fear (we erred on the side of cautious during the holidays).
I can't imagine the need for people working in healthcare or high volume retail.
At first I though 100 million sounded like a lot, but we need billions to keep up with regular testing if that's the strategy they want.
Most non-healthcare “essential workers” actually aren’t getting any kind of tests unless their employer has sourced them privately. We test only when symptomatic or exposed like the rest of the public.