Stellar planning, experts on the ground and firm decision-making - so NOT markers of leadership in this country:
“There are rapid test kits that are currently being tested and we’re hoping to have them available as quickly as possible. They will be a game-changer,” she said, according to documents tabled at the Health committee this week.
As it turned out, it took another six months before the government purchased rapid tests made by Abbott Laboratories and another month before any arrived in Canada. Millions of tests have now been shipped by Ottawa to the provinces but there has been a strange reluctance to roll them out. One source said 80 per cent of those tests are still sitting in warehouses, with provinces slow or unwilling to deploy them.
It has been left to academia and the private sector to shake up the bureaucratic inertia. ...
In his press conference on Friday, Justin Trudeau talked in French about rapid testing being useful in containing the number of cases, especially in the workplace.
But his government has not been a strong advocate. In fact, quite the opposite, given his health minister said she believes rapid tests may spread the infection.
Quebec is typical. The province has one million tests at its disposal and another million on the way, yet it has used just 18,400 rapid tests, preferring to rely on laboratory tests. People should be encouraged to get tested at clinics, said the province’s health ministry advisor.
(Sidebar: this Quebec.)
But only people who are symptomatic will go to a clinic for a test. The point of rapid tests is to catch asymptomatic people who are spreading the disease unknowingly. Proponents argue that, while antigen tests may not be as accurate as lab tests, they do catch the majority of cases when people are at their most infectious.
Routine rapid testing is a route back to normalcy.
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But the Albertan effort doesn't count:
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a tentative deal Tuesday with U.S. vaccine-maker Novavax to produce its product in Canada if the COVID-19 vaccine gets approved for use here.
“This is a major step forward to get vaccines made in Canada, for Canadians,” Trudeau said.
But the agreement won’t ease pressure on the government to get vaccines into Canada because it won’t start delivering until late next fall. ...
The new facility in Montreal was announced last August, and Champagne’s department has been in talks with most of the leading vaccine makers trying to lure them into making their vaccine there when it is finished.
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford said that delays in deliveries of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines is “frustrating” and “disappointing.”
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MPs yesterday demanded public release of contracts signed with vaccine manufacturers amid uneven distribution of medicines in Canada. Cabinet declined: “The federal government refuses to release a single word in a single contract it has signed.”
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Being a bureaucrat is hard work:
The Department of Fisheries yesterday said a six-figure expense at a luxury resort and spa was no holiday. Staff billed for training crew at the same time cabinet told Canadians to “hunker down” and stay home: “Parts of the resort utilized by the inshore rescue boat personnel were closed to other guests.”
As of this writing, the death toll in Canada has reached 20, 205.
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