If you show up at a provincial COVID-19 testing you may be going home with a self-administered rapid test announced the province on Monday, December 27, 2021.
According to Health and Seniors Care Minister Audrey Gordon individuals who show up at a testing site who are symptomatic and vaccinated will be given a self-administered rapid test and some may be randomly selected for a PCR test as a control measure. People who are symptomatic and unvaccinated will be given a PCR test.
“The centralized use of rapid test kits is necessary to manage the supply we have in stock,” said Gordon. “Making take-home, self-administered rapid tests available to symptomatic Manitobans who seek a COVID-19 test will help manage the potential demand of tests when the omicron variant of concern becomes more prominent.”
If a take-home rapid test shows a positive result then individuals will have to return to a testing site to be given a PCR test to confirm the result.
The province says that those who test positive with a followup PCR test will be contacted by a public health worker who will provide information about isolation as well as her determine if the individual meets the criteria for the monoclonal antibodies treatment.
Monoclonal antibody treatment can help reduce the sever effects of the virus for those at high risk. According to the province the treatment provides a temporary boost to the immune system by providing antibodies to fight infection. In order for the treatment to be effective it must occur in the early stages of infection.
© News4.ca 2021
