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On Tuesday, when Premier Doug Ford announced that Ontario was rolling out new rapid tests for COVID, he called them "game changers" FIVE separate times. Five!!
Is that what the province's top infectious disease experts think? I asked them.
THREAD: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/27/rapid-tests-are-a-game-changer-doug-ford-says-public-health-ontarios-head-of-microbiology-has-a-very-different-view.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=
Is that what the province's top infectious disease experts think? I asked them.
THREAD: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/27/rapid-tests-are-a-game-changer-doug-ford-says-public-health-ontarios-head-of-microbiology-has-a-very-different-view.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=
This genesis of this story was that I heard from a source that Public Health Ontario's chief of microbiology, Dr. Vanessa Allen, called one of the rapid tests "shitty" in private, expert discussions.
Pretty big gap between "game changer" & "shitty." https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/27/rapid-tests-are-a-game-changer-doug-ford-says-public-health-ontarios-head-of-microbiology-has-a-very-different-view.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=
Pretty big gap between "game changer" & "shitty." https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/27/rapid-tests-are-a-game-changer-doug-ford-says-public-health-ontarios-head-of-microbiology-has-a-very-different-view.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=
So I called Dr. Allen. She is one of Ontario's top testing experts & and widely respected.
She said there had been so much excitement around these tests. But they do not perform as well as gold standard lab tests and we don't have a lot of good data about their actual benefits.
She said there had been so much excitement around these tests. But they do not perform as well as gold standard lab tests and we don't have a lot of good data about their actual benefits.
The other experts I spoke to agreed: rapid tests may be useful, but also come with significant risks.
@DrSamirSinha highlighted LTCs: false negatives could be devastating. But so can false positives, by needlessly quarantining already threadbare staff & isolating residents.
@DrSamirSinha highlighted LTCs: false negatives could be devastating. But so can false positives, by needlessly quarantining already threadbare staff & isolating residents.
So are they a "game changer"?
Dr. Allen: "I don't think we know yet."
Dr. Sinha: "anything but."
Dr. Allison McGeer: "I run the risk of you printing what I say."
(They all provided advice on province's rapid testing plan in some form or another.) https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/27/rapid-tests-are-a-game-changer-doug-ford-says-public-health-ontarios-head-of-microbiology-has-a-very-different-view.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=
Dr. Allen: "I don't think we know yet."
Dr. Sinha: "anything but."
Dr. Allison McGeer: "I run the risk of you printing what I say."
(They all provided advice on province's rapid testing plan in some form or another.) https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/27/rapid-tests-are-a-game-changer-doug-ford-says-public-health-ontarios-head-of-microbiology-has-a-very-different-view.html?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=GTA&utm_content=
None of this is a wholesale indictment of rapid tests!
It was a fact-check of whether they are "game changers," as the Premier claimed.
“I think these things have been so politicized,” @DrSamirSinha told me. “People are just so desperate to find quick and easy fixes here.”
It was a fact-check of whether they are "game changers," as the Premier claimed.
“I think these things have been so politicized,” @DrSamirSinha told me. “People are just so desperate to find quick and easy fixes here.”
Ahhh, one addendum: I didn't have space to get into it, but several people pointed out to me that the White House outbreak is the perfect example of how misusing rapid COVID tests can be disastrous: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/06/health/covid-white-house-testing.html
Ok another addendum: I ALSO didn't have space to get into Nevada's experience with rapid COVID tests (different brand than Ontario's).
The state halted their use in nursing homes because of accuracy issues. Then backtracked amid federal pressure. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/10/health/covid-nevada-testing-nursing-homes.html
The state halted their use in nursing homes because of accuracy issues. Then backtracked amid federal pressure. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/10/health/covid-nevada-testing-nursing-homes.html
