Finally ! It is difficult to remember this spontaneous exclamation in the face of the distribution, starting this week in elementary schools in Quebec, of three million rapid tests, which will allow parents to carry out a self-test of around fifteen minutes in the peace of their home. place and place of the scout race. Quebec is among the world champions in terms of immunization coverage for its population, but it is difficult to explain why it is leading the way in the race for rapid tests.
Just take a look at the models carried out by public health institutes, both Quebec and Canada, to see that experts predict this winter an upward recovery in the curve of COVID-19 cases, with a peak scheduled for February. Reasons? Among other things, an increase in social contacts, a cooling of temperatures having the natural consequence of a retreat towards the interior, a reduction in sanitary measures. Quebec will not escape the trends, and this is one more reason to provide it with adequate tools in order to better deal with the possible upsurge in cases.
The authorities are right to prepare citizens to enter quietly into another phase of this pandemic, the “exceptional” duration of which we see stretching out over time as the months go by. In all likelihood, the disease will end up becoming “endemic”, in the sense that its permanent or latent presence among our populations will no longer be associated with a growing infectious disease, but rather with a possible risk of contagion among others. , like the flu, for example. In the arsenal of tools to which Quebecers should have access, rapid tests should be a priority.
This is the decision taken by the government of François Legault, as the Minister of Health and Social Services, Christian Dubé, confirmed last week. Adding up preschool and primary care services, around five million tests are being directed these days towards unvaccinated (or in the process of) populations, as the campaign director confirmed last week. vaccination against COVID-19, Daniel Paré, on Radio-Canada. As the holiday season approaches, when families are known to increase the level of contact, the availability of these tests – offered in packs of five – in every home with a child is great news.
A third distribution phase of these easy-to-use self-tests, the results of which are available in about fifteen minutes, will target the general population if – and only if – the arrivals requested in Ottawa are sent to Quebec. Since the advent of rapid tests, Quebec has sadly distinguished itself by an almost systematic decline in logistics-type factors to explain its delay compared to other provinces. We still remember the chaos engendered this fall by the promise of the deployment of tests in schools, a measure that was presented as an effective way to avoid the return of children between home and school.
It is especially families who benefit from these tests, because the stopping of all professional and school activity the time of screening at the slightest manifestation of a symptom – cold? flu ? COVID? – is harmful to everyone. Although they do not replace a PCR test and are in fact a prelude to a real screening, rapid tests are, according to public health experts, an easy way to prevent and identify potential spreaders of the disease. before they contaminate – sometimes without knowing it – the population.
In addition to arming citizens responsibly to better distinguish the forms of COVID from the seasonal viruses to which we are accustomed, these tests compensate for the decrease in screening centers; everywhere else they have been used they are purchased almost as naturally as a box of surgical masks. England, a fan of the rapid test available in grocery stores and pharmacies, used some 95 million rapid tests between April and September 2021, which detected 620,000 cases of COVID. A worrying wave of cases of the Omicron variant has also forced the UK on Sunday to require all vaccinated citizens who have been in contact with an infected person to self-administer a rapid test for seven days.
It is useless to try to understand how Quebec, after almost two years of pandemic, is still at the stage of the first steps in this essential aspect of prevention not only for now, but also for the future. It is not too late to make up for lost time.