Canadians believe COVID-19 testing should be made more available
Published September 16, 2020 at 11:03 pm
With the majority of the country in Stage 3, and many school boards allowing students to return to classes, the number of COVID-19 cases has started to increase again.
In order to help prevent another shutdown, many Canadians believe the government should make regular testing more available and expand asymptomatic testing.
According to a recent survey from Abacus Data—commissioned by the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA)—nearly one-third of Canadians would feel more comfortable sending their kids back to school if COVID-19 tests were more readily available.
Additionally, testing those who are not showing symptoms could help identify cases in the community that might go unnoticed, highlight at-risk areas, and help people who may not know they have the virus and avoid spreading it to others.
“Increasing COVID-19 testing is critical to limit the spread of COVD-19,” Shelita Dattani, Director of Knowledge Translation and Practice Development for the CPhA, said in a news release.
“With more than 11,000 locations across the country, many in rural and remote areas, pharmacies can make testing more accessible to Canadians, and help communities restart schools and re-open their economies safely,” she continued.
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Based on the data, 41 per cent of Canadians said they would be more likely to get a test if a pharmacist was able to administer it in their province.
Further, 75 per cent of respondents said they were comfortable with a pharmacist administering asymptomatic COVID-19 tests, while 68 per cent said they would be comfortable getting a COVID-19 test at a community pharmacy.
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