The increasing rollout of vaccinations has brought hope to Canadians, but it will be several months before everyone who wants the vaccine is fully immunized. Until then, we need to aggressively implement a range of measures to break COVID-19’s transmission chain.
Rapid screening, which enables people who may be infectious to be identified and directed towards a confirmatory PCR test, is critical to keeping the disease in check. Unfortunately, the use of this essential tool, which can save lives and help the reopening of our economy, has been slow and uneven across Canada. When millions of test kits sit unused in warehouses, they are not protecting Canadians or helping them resume more ordinary lives.
Canada’s businesses know that rapid testing can both reduce the spread of COVID-19 and increase the public’s confidence that we are acting appropriately to protect our employees and customers. We urgently need a simplified approach to lower the costs of testing and to make it as accessible as possible to businesses.