The B. C. Seniors Advocate says there is immediate COVID-19 detection for all long-term care home staff.
Isobel Mackenzie says new measures want to be in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic’s moment wave and that immediate tests, which provide effects in as little as 15 minutes, can help identify COVID-19 personnel who are asymptomatic or presymptomatic.
“At the height of the first wave, we had about 23 nursing homes in the epidemic and now we have more than double,” Mackenzie said.
“Our control technique and strategy we took on the first wave will have to be a little different on the wave at the moment because the cases are different. “
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Mackenzie says that at present, long-term care homes only control in the event of an outbreak and that other services have other methods of control.
“I think we want to load some other layer of protection, and it’s those quick checks that would allow us to check staff very regularly, even on a daily basis, because verification is done on site and the effects are on site in 15 to 30 minutes. Given where we are in the pandemic, I think it’s a technique we use, that is, in the Lower Continent.
A recent report by the BC Care Providers Association, which talks about long-term care, assisted living, autonomous living and home care operators, also the use of early detection protocols.
When asked why immediate testing had been implemented in the film industry and for professional sports groups and not for long-term care, provincial fitness leader Dr. Bonnie Henry, said Monday’s immediate tests aren’t a panacea.
“That’s not going to solve our challenge because the controls have flaws and limitations and they have to review each and every one every day,” he said.
“Yes, they probably do so in certain spaces for short periods of time, however, the functionality and volume of tests they would require are not to the point where it would be useful rather than the normal detection we do every day. “
When there are outbreaks in long-term care, asymptomatic citizens are tested and as needed, Henry said.
There are 60 active outbreaks in fitness care facilities, 54 long-term or assisted living centres, and six hospitals or intensive care facilities.
– With the Canadian press