U of T experts speak to Globe and Mail about Canada's move to active detection of coronavirus cases
Published: February 28, 2020
As the number of cases of COVID-19 rises around the world, Canadian health officials say they will start actively looking for novel coronavirus cases.
Health experts at the Ƶ told that means it’s time for Canada’s provinces to move their focus from testing patients who come to hospitals and clinics with symptoms to a more proactive testing regime.
“It’s basically canary in the coal mine surveillance,” said David Fisman, a professor and head of the epidemiology division at U of T’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health, describing an approach that would see all patients who visit certain clinics in high-risk cities like Toronto and Vancouver be tested. “You pick a few places you think are likely to be where the thing shows up and you focus on them.”
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However, such an approach would create challenges when it comes to managing laboratory workload and preserving crucial testing equipment, said Alison McGeer, a professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and director of the Infectious Diseases Epidemiology Research Unit at Mount Sinai Hospital.
“It’s a real challenge to try to balance all of those things,” McGeer told the Globe and Mail.
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