Rapid Testing and Travel Ban

[Heavy Rayn]

Health Canada just approved a rapid covid test which produces results in as little as 15 minutes. However, they also extended the restrictions on non-us international travel. Could airlines just implement mandatory rapid testing upon arrival, thus eliminating the requirement for a 14 day quarantine upon return to Canada? This seems like a safe way to eliminate the requirement to quarantine after travel and likely push demand up. Seems like a good idea to me... thoughts? Could this work?

*I’m not sure what the cost of the test is or the availability of it other than knowing that the government recently ordered 7.9 million rapid tests.

https://apple.news/AqhsuLvQIS_GF_p9vYpEWJA

[JasonE]

I've read in many other parts of the world, you only have to quarantine until your test results come back.

8.5 more days for me to go...Just got back from 5 weeks in the US.

[Eric Janson]

I've read in many other parts of the world, you only have to quarantine until your test results come back.

8.5 more days for me to go...Just got back from 5 weeks in the US.

No relaxation of the rules where I am - even though I am now being tested on day 8 every time I'm in Quarantine.

I'm sitting at 9 weeks of Quarantine since June.

[Heliian]

Health Canada just approved a rapid covid test which produces results in as little as 15 minutes. However, they also extended the restrictions on non-us international travel. Could airlines just implement mandatory rapid testing upon arrival, thus eliminating the requirement for a 14 day quarantine upon return to Canada? This seems like a safe way to eliminate the requirement to quarantine after travel and likely push demand up. Seems like a good idea to me... thoughts? Could this work?

*I’m not sure what the cost of the test is or the availability of it other than knowing that the government recently ordered 7.9 million rapid tests.

https://apple.news/AqhsuLvQIS_GF_p9vYpEWJA

The ID NOW rapid test is not accurate enough.

[digits_]

I've read in many other parts of the world, you only have to quarantine until your test results come back.

8.5 more days for me to go...Just got back from 5 weeks in the US.

No relaxation of the rules where I am - even though I am now being tested on day 8 every time I'm in Quarantine.

I'm sitting at 9 weeks of Quarantine sine June.

What's the reason they wait till day 8 for your test? Is it a company thing or a government thing?

[altiplano]

The ID NOW rapid test is not accurate enough.

Existing testing has been in the range of 1/3 false positives anyway, so I'm not sure what benchmark you are looking for re:accuracy.

Health Canada is approving it... it seems that they're the last regulator in the civilized world to approve a rapid test and they said they wouldn't be pressured to do it...

Typical bureaucratic response though, operating in their bubble rather than responding to the needs of the real world. We aren't talking about thalidomide here, these tests can't cause direct harm whereas the absence of testing availability can.

Test people, narrow down the threat, get people moving again... that's the way forward.

[Heliian]

The ID NOW rapid test is not accurate enough.

Existing testing has been in the range of 1/3 false positives anyway, so I'm not sure what benchmark you are looking for re:accuracy.

Health Canada is approving it... it seems that they're the last regulator in the civilized world to approve a rapid test and they said they wouldn't be pressured to do it...

Typical bureaucratic response though, operating in their bubble rather than responding to the needs of the real world. We aren't talking about thalidomide here, these tests can't cause direct harm whereas the absence of testing availability can.

Test people, narrow down the threat, get people moving again... that's the way forward.

Id now is 45% false positive but the troubling stat is the 26% false negatives.

There is a place for this quick and inaccurate test but it shouldn't be seen as catchment to stop the spread.

The Americans are the ones who have the data on it and essentially gave it an exemption as most tests need to be above 80% accurate.

[CpnCrunch]

Id now is 45% false positive but the troubling stat is the 26% false negatives.

There is a place for this quick and inaccurate test but it shouldn't be seen as catchment to stop the spread.

The Americans are the ones who have the data on it and essentially gave it an exemption as most tests need to be above 80% accurate.

The 45% figure is false negatives when using the incorrect (dry) type of nasal swab:

https://www.darkdaily.com/abbott-labs-i ... negatives/

Only about 1% false positive according to their clinical trial:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 1.full.pdf

[Heliian]

Id now is 45% false positive but the troubling stat is the 26% false negatives.

There is a place for this quick and inaccurate test but it shouldn't be seen as catchment to stop the spread.

The Americans are the ones who have the data on it and essentially gave it an exemption as most tests need to be above 80% accurate.

The 45% figure is false negatives when using the incorrect (dry) type of nasal swab:

https://www.darkdaily.com/abbott-labs-i ... negatives/

Only about 1% false positive according to their clinical trial:

https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101 ... 1.full.pdf

Thank you for clarifying that, i had misread. It still isn't the most accurate test out there but in all it's better than nothing IF you want better than nothing performance. https://www.who.int/news-room/commenta ... 0accurate.

If you're trying to completely stop infected people from coming in then a proper test and isolation for the waiting is necessary. But, that would be too expensive, so we're back to trying to find a balance between supporting these businesses and general public health.

[young grasshopper]

I think what a lot of people are missing, is that many of these tests will not provide an accurate result when symptoms are not presenting.

Example- you contact COVID the day before you travel ‘home’. You could do ten rapid tests on your travel day, and it’s highly unlikely that any will yield a positive result, when you in fact do have COVID.

[Eric Janson]

I've read in many other parts of the world, you only have to quarantine until your test results come back.

8.5 more days for me to go...Just got back from 5 weeks in the US.

No relaxation of the rules where I am - even though I am now being tested on day 8 every time I'm in Quarantine.

I'm sitting at 9 weeks of Quarantine sine June.

What's the reason they wait till day 8 for your test? Is it a company thing or a government thing?

It's because of the schedule we are working. We fly on day 11 and we need the test results prior to doing the flight.

[A346Dude]

Example- you contact COVID the day before you travel ‘home’. You could do ten rapid tests on your travel day, and it’s highly unlikely that any will yield a positive result, when you in fact do have COVID.

Sure, but are you contagious? In this case, likely not.

[nvcatc]

Example- you contact COVID the day before you travel ‘home’. You could do ten rapid tests on your travel day, and it’s highly unlikely that any will yield a positive result, when you in fact do have COVID.

Sure, but are you contagious? In this case, likely not.

Maybe not contagious yet if you picked it up on the flight home (or soon before). But if right after the flight you're told you're negative, you go about your business in public as usual, and then spread COVID to others once it's had time to incubate (in a few days/week). Maybe the answer will be somewhere in the middle - test again after a week of isolation at home, and if you're negative at that point, they release you with the (reasonable?) assumption that you won't be spreading it to others. I agree though that until we can reduce the quarantine down from 14 days, many people will avoid travelling. Most people don't have enough vacation time to incorporate a quarantine period, especially if it's required on both ends of the flight.

[digits_]

I think what a lot of people are missing, is that many of these tests will not provide an accurate result when symptoms are not presenting.

Example- you contact COVID the day before you travel ‘home’. You could do ten rapid tests on your travel day, and it’s highly unlikely that any will yield a positive result, when you in fact do have COVID.

I've wondered the same thing. I brought it up at work as well after mandatory testing. They claimed you can detect it right away. Didn't see any proof of that though. That was for the 2 giant q tip tests.

[itguy]

I think what a lot of people are missing, is that many of these tests will not provide an accurate result when symptoms are not presenting.

That's the insidious thing about COVID and I'm surprised that so many of the official statements don't seem to take this into account.