Epidemiological experts caution COVID-19 rapid test results
Throughout much of the pandemic, Maritimers have relied on rapid tests to help them track the spread of COVID-19, but some epidemiological experts are cautioning the results might not reveal the full picture.
University of Saskatchewan professor and epidemiologist, Dr. Nazeem Muhajarine, says users should be cautious when reading results.
"[Rapid tests are] an imperfect tool, as important as it is, it’s an imperfect tool," says Dr. Muhajarine. "Particularly during Omicron, particularly during the subvariants of BA.2 and BA.1."
Dr. Muhajarine says Maritimers and other Canadians should keep a supply of rapid tests on-hand, use them "smartly and frequently" and when they do, swab the throat, cheeks and nostrils.
"If you are asymptomatic but were potentially exposed, I would do that rapid test quite frequently," says Muhajarine.
"I would do, for example, two tests after the second day, certainly after 24 hours of being possibly exposed. So, within 24 to 48 hours, I’ll do that first test, if it’s negative I do another test, another 24 hours apart."
It’s a sentiment that has been echoed by the outgoing scientific director of Ontario’s COVID-19 science advisory table, Dr. Peter Juni.
"Don’t trust rapid tests, we don’t know how this works with BA.2," says Dr. Juni. "If it’s negative once, not enough – it needs to be at least twice."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Air turbulence: When can it become dangerous?
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton hospitalized after prison attack
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton was attacked and sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
WATCH Why today's inflation numbers are good if you have a mortgage
New inflation data is 'welcome news' for consumers and an economist says it could signal the possibility for a interest rate cut as several core measures also continue to ease.
'Miscommunication' Liberals say of Speaker Fergus event invite Conservatives call partisan
House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus is facing fresh Conservative-led calls to resign, this time over "very partisan" and 'inflammatory' language used – the Liberals say mistakenly – to promote an upcoming event.
OPP continues to investigate boat collision north of Kingston, Ont. that left 3 people dead
Ontario Provincial Police continue to investigate a long weekend fatal boat collision on Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont.
opinion Tom Mulcair: With Trudeau spiralling, Mark Carney waits in the wings
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
Loblaw boycott organizers say they plan to keep movement going past May
The organizers of a month-long boycott of Loblaw-owned stores say they've decided to extend the boycott past May.
Trump campaign calls 'The Apprentice' 'blatantly false,' director offers to screen it for him
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Winnipeg trial hears admitted serial killer searched web for serial killer definition
The trial of a Winnipeg man who has admitted to killing four women has heard he searched the internet to look up the definition of what it means to be a serial killer.