ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Rapid tests are helping Newfoundland and Labrador Public Health officials identify positive COVID-19 cases quickly, but some residents are getting impatient waiting four or more days for their results.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald confirmed Wednesday that those who tested positive on a rapid test — which gives a result within half an hour — are being notified before the accompanying PCR test result has gone through the laboratory.
But that doesn't mean the longer a person waits, the more likely it is their test is negative.
Fitzgerald says that even though positive rapid test results are usually accurate, as many as one-third of negative results turn out to be false.
“You need to be patient,” she said during Wednesday’s live video briefing. “I know it’s upsetting to have to wait for the results, but we’re trying to do it as quickly as we can.”
But she said conducting rapid tests in parallel has been a plus for Public Health purposes.
“It has been going well,” she said. “We have been finding those cases very quickly. The downside with the rapid testing, of course, is that it does have a higher false negative rate, so that’s why everyone who has a test has to continue to isolate until they get their tests back and they’re confirmed negative.”
Health Minister Dr. John Haggie said part of the problem has been a backlog that occurred during unprecedented testing levels over the weekend.
The province even sent some of the negative results out of the province for confirmation.
But he said that backlog has been addressed and results should start appearing again within 48-72 hours.
Meanwhile, Eastern Health says about 1,500 people who applied before Feb. 15 to get tested are either not answering their phones or gave staff the wrong number.
Anyone who hasn’t received a call is asked to complete the online form again at gov.nl.ca/covid-19, or call 811.
They will be notified within 24 hours.
Fluctuation expected
The province logged 44 new confirmed cases Wednesday, 10 of which were previously presumptive positive cases — cases found through rapid testing but not yet confirmed at the lab. That leaves 67 presumptive cases still waiting to get on the books.
It means the case counts are climbing a bit after trending down toward the end of last week, but Fitzgerald said that is expected.
“This fluctuation in case counts is expected as we continue to see thousands of people coming forward for testing as a result of contact tracing, exposure notifications, and/or the development of symptoms,” she said.
“Because this (variant) is more transmissible, it can spread from person to person even through brief, close contact less than 15 minutes. This means we will find more close contacts for each positive case.”
"...our behaviour now will determine how well we fare in the weeks to come.” — Dr. Janice Fitzgerald
She said some of the new cases are the result of interactions that happened as long as two weeks ago.
“This means our behaviour now will determine how well we fare in the weeks to come.”
At Alert Level 5, she said, people should only leave their home to buy essential supplies, to be at work if they have to be or for urgent medical care.
Of Wednesday’s confirmed cases, two were in the Central Health region.
All cases are under investigation. One person is in hospital.
Calling cabs
Haggie addressed a couple of other concerns that have arisen in the past week, one being the fact people without transportation have been told to take a cab for testing.
“There were discussions as recently as yesterday about how to do that with people who had challenges with mobility,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to have a barrier to a test.”
He said staff have been too busy administering drive-thru testing to resume at-home tests for those who are unable to leave their houses.
“We should have a practical, working situation very shortly.”
He also admitted the department has been inundated with questions about who should be next in line for vaccines.
“My office has a steady flow of individuals or groups who feel for one reason or another, their circumstances make them a priority. I understand that,” he said. “Our challenge is we can only give people what we get in terms of vaccine delivery, and that’s a manufacturing issue.”
Peter Jackson is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter covering health for The Telegram. [email protected] | Twitter:@pjackson_nl
