Calgary expands COVID-19 testing to include asymptomatic residents

The COVID-19 testing will be done for a week starting Monday, May 11, and will be available for 1,000 people from the Calgary zone on a first-come-first-serve basis. (File: Pexels photo)

The rising number of cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Calgary, Alberta pushed the Alberta Health Services (AHS) to expand testing capacities to include asymptomatic residents who work outside as the cases in the area are twice the number of cases of the rest of the province.

Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said that the expanded testing will be done to gain more information on asymptomatic transmission as the cases in Calgary doubled compared to other provinces.

“While we don’t know how much asymptomatic spread make contribute to transmission in a population, we know it’s possible,” said Hinshaw.

The COVID-19 testing will be done for a week starting Monday, May 11, and will be available for 1,000 people from the Calgary zone on a first-come-first-serve basis.

“We can only test up to 1,000 people per day to ensure we leave room to test those who are sick, but I encourage anyone in the Calgary zone who is interested to participate to go online and register for a test,” Hinshaw said.

Individuals who wanted to be tested, instead of calling 811, are encouraged to use the self-assessment tool found at the AHS’s website to determine whether they should be tested for COVID-19.

“It is important to remember that testing people who aren’t sick just gives a point-in-time picture of whether they have the virus at a particular moment in time,” Hinshaw said.

“It is possible if someone has had an exposure that they could test negative but go on to get sick later. However, offering testing to this group of people will offer us more information of COVID-19 in Calgary at this point in time,” she added.