The shortcomings of Canada’s COVID-19 testing strategy came to the fore Wednesday as Ontario’s premier admitted to “unacceptable” testing rates, Quebec promised to aggressively root out infections in long-term care homes and Nova Scotia expanded its eligibility criteria, vowing to test anyone with so much as a runny nose and sore throat.
Provincial leaders declared they will expand their testing rules as cases and deaths continued to rise and questions persisted about the true extent of community spread.
Meanwhile, critics pointed to a mish-mash of surveillance strategies that can vary widely even within provinces and communities, making it hard to build a true picture of just how pervasive COVID-19 really is.