Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 26, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A8 Dynacare profits flow to U.S. Re: Province lets lab explain COVID-19 testing strategy (Sept. 24) This article, and several printed previously, identifies Dynacare as “an Ontario-based lab.” Dynacare is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lab- corp, a United States company based in Burling- ton, N.C. In 2018, the company posted revenues of over US$11 billion. It acquired all shares of Dynacare in 2002. The company has been aggres- sively buying labs in Canada and now holds sway in several Canadian jurisdictions. I assume Labcorp is enjoying a positive return on investment. Given the dominant position in Canada and the monopoly on all blood and lab ser- vices in Winnipeg outside of hospitals, how could it be otherwise? However, that money, patriated to the U.S., comes off the kitchen tables of hard- working Manitobans. It is a pity local enterprises are cut out of the mix. BRIAN MARKS Winnipeg Shopper shouldn’t try on mask I’m 91 years of age, a vulnerable person during these trying days. Shopping at Canadian Tire on Sept. 22, I could not believe what I saw. A female, age 30/35-ish, was standing in front of a rack of masks. She took a mask, opened the zip-lock bag, removed the mask and tried it on. Shortly after, she folded it up, put it back into the bag and hung it back up on the rack. Unbelievable! Has she no brains? I immediately talked to an employee, who found the mask, but by the time I looked up to find the guilty party, she was gone. NEIL FAST SR. Winnipeg Waiting too long for test results I cannot understand the much longer delay for the negative test results to be posted online so that people who were tested and do not have a positive result can resume normal activities. I was tested on Monday because my wife was sent into a COVID-19 protocol after a visit to her doctor. My test was not mandatory, but since she would be tested the following morning, I decided that I would go to a test site on Monday afternoon, as I would be forced to isolate until her situation was resolved. Three days later, I still do not have a result, nor does my wife. We were both told that we’d receive a phone call if we tested positive and that this call would come in a day or so following our tests. This seems logical, since people who are positive should know as soon as possible. However, this long delay in posting negative results to the medi- cal record so it can be accessed online seems to be excessive. Many of us who have been tested need to prove a negative result before being allowed back into a workplace. This poses staffing and service is- sues for employers and potential income loss for employees. It also encourages non-compliance, which could be an issue as the number of cases rises again in the normal flu season. MICHAEL HUTSAL Winnipeg Certified lab staff vital Re: COVID-19 testing capacity must be improved (Analysis, Sept. 23) The authors, Jeffrey Marcus and Joanne Seiff, are correct in addressing the bottlenecks in the testing system; however, their article may create confusion. The mobile testing units and testing centres they refer to are actually collection units. No test- ing is done on site. Collection is a bottleneck, and more units could address this. However, special training is required in sample collection proce- dure. The province has made provisions to increase testing capacity for COVID-19 to 3,000 tests per day and we have yet to reach this capacity. If the two sites currently offering testing, Cadham Provincial Lab and Dynacare, were funded and mandated to run 24 hours a day, and there were no other bottlenecks, such as lack of testing reagents or collection swabs, this target could be reached. There is currently a shortage of medical labo- ratory technologists (MLTs) in Manitoba. This shortage is hitting laboratory services in rural and remote areas of the province where other health-care providers are being cross-trained to provide limited services. A call for recently retired technologists could address staff shortages. The suggestion to utilize uncertified university personnel, regardless of education, would lead to lowering standards with increased risks to patient harm. MLTs possess the knowledge and skills to perform all steps in the testing process, from sample collection to result reporting, to ensure accurate and reliable results. It’s not about turf protection. The standards and certification of MLTs are in place to ensure patient safety, which cannot be compromised, especially during a pandemic. ADAM CHROBAK, REGISTRAR College of Medical Laboratory Technologists of Manitoba Osborne canopy trees destroyed Re: Mayor’s tree-planting tour puts spotlight on canopy (Sept. 24) The mayor is concerned about the loss of urban forest. Commendable. However, his concern doesn’t seem to have reached his city planners, nor the board of adjustment and the appeal com- mittee. The Osborne Village Neighbourhood Plan encourages the preservation of existing mature- canopy shade trees on private property, but the planner recommended approval of an applica- tion to construct a 41-unit apartment block at the corner of Stradbrook Avenue and Nassau Street. Trees were an issue of concern, along with other concerns about density, mass, design, setback and parking. The board and the committee, on appeal, approved the application. The result: of the 45 existing mature-canopy shade trees on the site, 36 were destroyed. FRANK STEELE Winnipeg Cowbells on wrong necks Re: Like Typhoid Mary (Letter, Sept. 24) Letter writer Linda Ross-Mansfield wants to hang a cowbell on three of us who oppose manda- tory vaccinations, warning people we are coming. I suggest Linda hang that cowbell around her own neck to warn us of the presence of hostile, fear- driven, ill-informed people. What she is proposing would negate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and would deliver our children into a totalitarian state that is far more threatening than COVID-19. Now, THAT is self- ish and short-sighted. To quote Benjamin Franklin: “Any society that will give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.” I hear a lot of bells, and the noise is deafening. ROBERT K. FROESE Winnipeg I’m glad letter writer Linda Ross-Mansfield is aware some people can’t be vaccinated because of allergies or a weak immune system. But she may not be aware that some people don’t want a vac- cine because of the mercury that is added to some vaccines as a preservative. It’s the mercury they are afraid of, not the vaccine itself. Mainly the multi-dose flu vaccines have the mercury-based Thimerosal added, while single doses of the same vaccine do not. Patients can’t tell which form they are getting and distrust the whole process. If we demand that mercury is prohibited in vaccines, half the people refusing vaccines will happily take them. Some in the other half will, however, wear tin foil hats forever. RUDY VALENTA Winnipeg LETTERS TO THE EDITOR WHAT’S YOUR TAKE? THE FREE PRESS WANTS TO HEAR FROM YOU. The Free Press is committed to publishing a diverse selection of letters from a broad cross-section of our audience. The Free Press will also consider longer submissions for inclusion on our Think Tank page, which is a platform man- dated to present a wide range of perspectives on issues of current interest. We welcome our readers’ feedback on articles and letters on these pages and in other sections of the Free Press ● Email: Letters: letters@freepress.mb.ca Think Tank submissions: opinion@freepress.mb.ca ● Post: Letters to the Editor, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, R2X 3B6 Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. ● Follow us on Twitter @WFPEditorials OUR VIEW YOUR SAY PERSPECTIVES EDITOR: BRAD OSWALD 204-697-7269 ● BRAD.OSWALD@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A8 SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26, 2020 A failing grade on back-to-school preparation W HEN Premier Brian Pallister’s govern-ment decided over the summer that in-person public education would resume this fall, did he, his cabinet ministers or his pub- lic-health advisers contemplate a major expansion of COVID-19 testing capacity? We’re only two weeks into the school year, but the evidence seems rather compelling that they did not connect back-to-school with testing capacity. If that’s the case, it is an oversight that borders on negligence. This is not to say that effective policy on CO- VID-19 testing isn’t a challenge. Best practices governing who should be tested and when are still evolving as we learn more about the novel coronavirus. There is still a vigorous debate, and no consensus, about the value of testing asymp- tomatic people, even those who have come into contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19. But if there is one narrative that has held up through the evolution of the pandemic, it is that one of the best tools to allow us to move toward resuming a nearly normal life is the sufficient and expedited provision of testing. Rapid-result saliva tests could be a game- changer. The United States has already autho- rized the use of these so-called “saliva tests,” which can produce results in less than an hour. Canada does not yet trust the technology to provide accurate results. Obviously, a rapid-result test that could theoretically be performed at home would be a major win in the fight against COVID-19. However, until we have a universally accepted rapid test, we need to rely on government to pro- vide the resources to ensure that everyone who needs to be tested using conventional methods — including, one presumes, some asymptomatic people — has access to a test, and that results are provided as quickly as possible. Simply put, there is no excuse for not having expanded testing capacity immediately upon mak- ing the decision to resume in-person classes. One needn’t have been an epidemiologist to be able to predict that, notwithstanding the rigorous pre- ventative measures that were in place, there were going to be new outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools. Gathering large numbers of people in any indoor space creates an environment ripe for new infections. Given that reality, Manitobans needed to know that the children attending a school that experiences a COVID-19 outbreak — and their families — could get a test and results as quickly as possible. The Pallister government should have anticipated this problem and built extra testing capacity to rapidly screen students and staff in schools with outbreaks in order to maintain confi- dence in its back-to-school policy. It did not. The disconnect between the back-to-school policy and testing capacity is even more discon- certing given that, two weeks into a school year in which we have already seen those anticipated outbreaks in at least two schools, we are still wait- ing to see an expansion of testing capacity. Cost should not be an issue; Manitoba has been gifted $100 million from the federal government ex- pressly for the purpose of performing more tests. At this stage of the resumption of the public school year, on this critical public-health chal- lenge, the Pallister government has so far earned a failing grade. All Manitobans should hope that before the end of the school year, it manages to pull up its marks and in so doing, rebuilds public confidence in public education during the pan- demic. EDITORIAL RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister Published since 1872 on Treaty 1 territory and the homeland of the Métis A_08_Sep-26-20_FP_01.indd A8 2020-09-25 4:51 PM ;