Ontario Is Expanding The Use Of Rapid Antigen Testing & Here's What You Need To Know
There are three recommended reasons to use a rapid test.
The provincial government has announced that they are expanding the use of rapid COVID-19 antigen testing in Ontario as the Omicron variant continues to spread.
In documents revealed on Thursday, the government stated that rapid tests are now being recommended for three specific groups, including "test-to-work" purposes, screening purposes for people without symptoms and people with symptoms.
At the moment, the distribution for rapid tests are currently being prioritized for high-priority settings, such as long-term care homes, hospitals, and shelters.
For those without symptoms, rapid testing can be used to help identify people who may have COVID-19, but are asymptomatic. This includes healthcare workers or employees in high-risk settings where unvaccinated staff are required to take rapid tests twice weekly.
However, the government does not recommend using these tests for one-time testing (such as testing before a social event) due to "the risk of false negatives."
Residents who have symptoms are also able to use rapid tests. If you test positive, you and your entire household must self-isolate.
If two tests come back negative (separated by 24-48 hours) the government is still asking residents to self-isolate for at least 24 hours until symptoms approve.
The government states that if you test positive on a rapid antigen test, you do not need to confirm with a PCR test or report to public health.
As more tests become available to the province, Ontario states that they will work to make them available for more residents.
Ontario has received 55.7M rapid antigen tests to date and has deployed 54.3M so far.