Alberta changes rules for PCR tests, contact tracing before Christmas

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As the number of cases of COVID-19 variant Omicron continues to proliferate in Alberta, the state is changing the criteria for who receives PCR testing and contact tracing recommendations.

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Dr. Dina Hinsho, Chief Medical Officer of Alberta, has announced some changes in efforts to curb the spread of highly contagious variants during the Christmas holidays. This is due to the state reporting 1,625 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday. 506 new Omicron Case.

“Alberta continues to be consistent with what Canada and other jurisdictions around the world are experiencing, with a doubling time of only a few days, much more than experienced with the Delta variant. It’s fast, “says Hinsho.

“There is likely to be at least one infected person during a rally with someone outside the family.”

To conserve the supply of PCR tests, Alberta Health recommends that instead of booking PCR tests, rapid test kits should be used by those experiencing symptoms to use rapid tests separately. doing.

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If the rapid test returns positive, Hinsho said the person should be quarantined and notified if there is close contact. If the test is negative, quarantine, but take another rapid test within 24-48 hours. Even if the second test was negative, Hinsho said she should continue to quarantine until her symptoms disappeared.

“Since the proportion of cases of Omicron is increasing, it is actually quite reasonable to say that people who are feeling symptoms probably have COVID-19,” Hinsho said. ..

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Alberta will also focus on investigating cases in high-priority environments such as medical facilities. Others are still notified of the test results, but they are no longer capable of conducting a complete case study for everyone, Hinsho said.

As a result, she said, data on where certain cases were obtained and whether new cases were known to be in close contact with other COVID cases would no longer be available to the public.

To avoid staff shortages, AHS has reversed its policy of requiring healthcare professionals to vaccinate. Unvaccinated staff can return to work as long as they agree to frequent COVID-19 tests. As of Thursday, approximately 1,400 full-time and part-time staff who are not fully immunized are on unpaid leave.

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Healthcare professionals should wear a N95 breathing mask with other PPEs whenever they are close to a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19, or when working in a critical care unit or emergency department.

During the holidays, Hinsho said state reports on COVID-19 would be reduced. COVID-19 case data will not be published online until December 29th, but there will be two live updates next Tuesday and Thursday. Regular reporting will resume on January 4th.

NDP health critic David Shepherd said the state’s decision to reduce testing and data reporting during the holidays was “extremely annoying” given Omicron’s infectivity.

“Why does the government darken in the midst of a crisis? Where is the premiere? Why didn’t they plan a crisis they had to see them coming?” Shepherds I wrote in a news release. “As Omicron spread at an unprecedented rate, the UCP government again decided not to take the lead and leave to protect the Albertians for themselves.”

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Highly contagious, but probably not so serious

Case numbers are increasing at an unprecedented rate in Omicron, but hospitalizations declined slightly on Thursday in Alberta. Currently, there are 318 Albertans hospitalized for COVID-19 and 64 in the intensive care unit, down from 326 and 65 ICU hospitalizations on Wednesday.

“Although these numbers have declined over the past week, it is important to remember that these are still very high baselines and it is premature to know the effects of severity on Omicron cases. “Hinsho said.

Dr. Gerard Evans is an infectious disease expert at the Kingston Health Science Center and Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, and the COVID-19 rate per 100,000 people in the region remains the highest in the country.

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Kingston’s new incidents are mostly The group is 18-29 years old, but so far The good news seems to be that the Omicron variant did not bring more people in need of intensive care, he said.

“In fact, there are very few cases of Omicron admitted to the hospital, so we are still trying to determine what that means,” Evans said.

According to Evans, young demographics that test positive for Omicron report symptoms that resemble a common cold, such as stuffy nose, runny nose, headaches, and sore throat.

New information and data released from the United Kingdom, Scotland, Denmark and South Africa also seem to suggest that Omicron is milder than previous variants of COVID-19.

“Ultimately, we’ll probably be able to pinpoint this in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

Omicron may show less serious symptoms, but it only applies to people who are vaccinated, Evans said. The surge in the number of cases will still affect the health care system, and hospitalization and ICU admission will be notable indicators.

“If not vaccinated, Omicron will do as badly as Delta. If you get infected with Omicron and receive two doses, you will probably get a relatively mild illness.”

bgervais@postmedia.com

twitter: @BrittGervaisAB