Alberta to begin anti-body testing but not for those who think they’ve had COVID-19 already
By GILLIAN SLADE on June 25, 2020.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade The province announced on Tuesday it will begin COVID-19 anti-body testing but it is not an opportunity for those who believe they had COVID-19 and would like to know for sure. “At this time, we are not funding widespread serology testing for the public, as it does not have a clinical or public health benefit. This is consistent with the approach taken across Canada,” said Tom McMillan, assistant director of communications for Alberta Health. McMillan says Health Canada is expected to approve “point-of-care serology tests in the near future, and private labs and pharmacies that are interested could offer the tests directly to Albertans at that time.” Some local family doctors have said they believe they treated COVID-19 patients before tests for the virus were being done. Alberta Health’s tests will not address those cases. McMillan says serology testing will not differentiate between a COVID infection that occurred after tests were introduced in March, and those who may have had it before that point. He says there is no way to tell if these patients were more recent asymptomatic cases or if they were symptomatic pre-pandemic. McMillan says the focus is on specific research studies to learn more about the virus and monitor the spread. A positive serology test would not remove the need to follow all public health measures, including self-isolation. The province’s investment of $10 million for anti-body/serology testing will focus on two pediatric studies in Calgary and Edmonton that will continue for a couple of years. Another will test samples of blood collected for other purposes and the fourth will test select Albertans who are over 45 to determine who was exposed to COVID-19. McMillan says if a serology test done on blood collected for another purpose is positive, the person whose blood that was will not be told. The tests for those over 45 will only apply to people in Edmonton, Calgary, Red Deer and Lethbridge who are already enrolled in the Alberta’s Tomorrow Project (ATP), which was launched in 2000. ATP is a study tracking the health of 55,000 adults in Alberta. Only some of the participants in ATP will be tested every four months, for at least a year, to estimate the number of Albertans who have been exposed to COVID-19 and follow the trend over time. McMillan says Alberta’ s Precision Laboratory is currently conducting PCR testing for COVID-19 on approximately 21,000 archived respiratory samples collected between Dec. 1, 2019 and early March. “That will be a much better indicator of whether COVID-19 was circulating in Alberta prior to our large-scale testing,” he said. 13-12
