COVID-19: Should Quebec expand eligibility requirements for PCR testing?

Questions are being raised about expanding Quebec’s criteria for PCR testing once again. Experts say as restrictions are being lifted and testing numbers decline, it’s one useful tool going forward.

“I think that these tests should definitely be more prominent or used more generally in the population,” said Benoît Barbeau, Université du Québec à Montréal biological sciences professor.

According to Institut national de santé publique du Québec data, more than 357,000 Quebecers got swabbed during the first week of January. By comparison, only about 50,000 people tested throughout the first week of March.

Virology expert Barbeau told Global News at-home rapid test kits are a useful tool but questions how many people report a positive case with the government. Instead, he said widespread PCR testing gives a more accurate portrayal.

“We’re underestimating the number, that’s obvious, and the greatest hope would be to able to know exactly everybody who’s infected,” he said.

Barbeau said low test numbers make it difficult to assess the COVID-19 situation now and in the future.

“When the new wave starts, the new variant comes in. You need to know exactly how much it is prevalent how much it is transmitting.”

According to the professor, a way to fill testing gaps is studying what gets flushed down the toilet.

Sarah Dorner, a professor in the department of civil, geological and mining engineering at Polytechnique Montréal, was part of a research group sampling local sewage to track the spread of the virus.

“This gives a community portrait, so it makes it easier for understanding … the transmission trends within the communities,” she said, adding that “it’s extremely useful to see if things are stable or if they’re rising rapidly.”

Quebec’s health ministry announced March 1 it has given the province’s public health institute a mandate to resume testing wastewater. The measure was abandoned in December after funding ran out.

In a statement, ministry spokesperson Marie-Hélène Émond writes, “this project could be added to the various existing COVID monitoring tools,” adding, “it is too early to confirm how this detection could be done.”

Barbeau hopes the government uses all available tools, including widespread PCR testing, in a concerted effort to prepare for what he says are inevitable future waves of the virus.

Émond told Global News that the province is “indeed planning to revise it’s screening strategy” and that announcements will be made in “due time.”

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