Friday October 2, 2020 | VICTORIA, BC
by Mary P Brooke, B.Sc., Editor | Island Social Trends
In response to a question from Island Social Trends earlier this week, Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry said that BC is not presently offering COVID-19 testing at commercial pharmacies. This has partly to do with a high demand for the reagents that are used in the test; she therefore wants to see resources used where the likelihood of finding positive test results is highest.
COVID-19 tests require complex and pure reagents, such as enzymes, probes, and primers that are created to match the coronavirus’s genome, in addition to inorganic solutions. These are in high demand across Canada and around the world.
The COVID-19 crisis has underscored vulnerability to reagent shortages brought on by sudden demand, export bans, and stockpiling. Scarcity is compounded by problems like limited production capacity and a market dominated by just a few firms.
Up until COVID hit, there was usually enough capacity to run the range of tests that labs do. The pandemic has forced an unexpected upscaling of production.
Pharmacy model for low-likelihood:
In Ontario, where 60 pharmacies offer COVID-19 testing, that is generally for people who suspect they might have the infection but are presently not showing symptoms. Anyone with symptoms goes through the regular public health system.
People who access the test through pharmacies in Ontario are phoned ahead of time, must answer a series of questions, and must make an appointment. That’s to limit any possible COVID exposure to others in the retail setting (staff and customers).
Pharmacy testing has also been offered in Alberta. A few weeks ago Dr Henry briefing mentioned during a media session that she’d been communicating with Alberta about helping to conserve supplies of the testing materials.
Pharmacists have para-medical training.
COVID test volume & types of tests:
The testing for COVID-19 in BC is robust. On October 1 the ‘new test’ tally is 10,901 (over the past 24 hours), with 1,107 of those done on Vancouver Island.
Negative tests results can be obtained online or by phone/text. Users of ehealth have the choice to receive an email alert when new test results are ready.
The nasal-pharyngeal swab test is the most reliable, according to Provincial Health Office Dr Bonnie Henry today.
The swish-gargle-spit test is slightly less reliable but can be done at home which is convenient for the individual and saves on health-care worker time; it is thought to be easier (and/or less invasive) for children, but kids under age five are less likely to handle the many steps or be able to gargle without swallowing. | September 17 article about Dr Henry’s promotion of the swish-gargle test.
Working with LifeLabs:
In BC, testing is available for people who have symptoms. Test processing is mostly done through the privately-owned LifeLabs said Dr Henry this week.
The priority is to identify cases that can lead to a test-positive result, explained Dr Henry. “LifeLabs is an important part of our system in BC,” she said.
“LifeLabs had been using some of their capacity to support private testing,” said Dr Henry, explaining one of the reason for backlogs in returning test results to BC public health.
“It’s challenging for them keeping up with our need in the public system. They and our lab system are working on it,” she said yesterday. Particularly if there has been travel associated with the person needing the test, and other medical procedures — those are ideally guided to priority processing.
LifeLabs says it is Canada’s leading provider of laboratory diagnostic information and digital health connectivity systems, enabling patients and health care practitioners to diagnose, treat, monitor, and prevent disease. They support 20 million patient visits annually and conduct over 100 million laboratory tests. They employ about 5,700 people.
LifeLab has 17 locations in the west shore and Victoria areas. Locations in the west shore include 582 Goldstream in Colwood and 2945 Jacklin Road as well as 2401G Millstream Road in Langford. There are locations on Burnside Road and Wilson Street in the Saanich/View Royal areas. There is a LifeLabs in Sooke.
