COVID-19 this week, leading some to wonder what that could mean for provincial testing systems under heavy pressure.The Canadian Press asked infectious disease experts Dr.
Barry Pakes, a public health physician and professor at the University of Toronto and Dr. Gerald Evans of Queen’s about the new Abbott Diagnostics ID Now tests, which delivers results in about 15 minutes and should start arriving in provinces in the coming weeks.Pakes: It’s a similar technology (to the current testing method), it’s just a different platform.
So really, the quickness of it is its point-of-care _ there’s a little machine there, and everything you need to get the answer while the patient is waiting.Evans: What (the rapid tests) have done is remove the lab.