COVID-19 rapid tests now available without appointment at some N.B. sites

November 28, 2023admin

COVID-19 rapid tests now available without appointment at some N.B. sites

It’s a bit easier to access COVID-19 rapid tests in New Brunswick.

The free rapid test kits are now available for pickup without an appointment at some locations, the Department of Health has confirmed.

Until now, people had to book an appointment online by entering their Medicare number, postal code, date of birth, email address and phone number to access the tests, or by contacting Tele-Services at 1-833-437-1424.

“While most pickup sites require an appointment, several sites have recently requested they be able to offer tests without an appointment time, depending on their staffing levels and hours of operation,” department spokesperson Sean Hatchard said in an emailed statement.

CBC News requested a list of those sites. Instead, Hatchard said they are “still listed in the online scheduler, which has the most up-to-date information on participating pickup locations.”

Saint John library among sites

The Saint John Free Public Library’s central, east and west branches are among the sites no longer requiring appointments, CBC has confirmed.

Library officials did not immediately respond to a request for an interview about why they asked to be able to offer the test kits without an appointment, or about what kind of response they’ve received.

There are a total of 80 rapid test kit pickup sites across the province’s seven health zones, according to Hatchard. That’s up from 74 last month.

Distribution sites include libraries, municipalities and regional health authorities’ facilities.

Close up of a hand holding a positive rapid test, with two lines. — A positive COVID-19 rapid test result, as indicated by lines on both control (C) and test (T). A line on C, with no line on T, indicates negative, while no lines or only a test line mean the results are invalid and the test needs to be taken again. (CBC/Radio-Canada)

Hatchard did not respond to questions about what prompted the province to decide to offer

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Department Health

August 7, 2023admin

Federal government struggling to get rid of millions of extra COVID-19 rapid tests

The federal government is sitting on a stockpile of 39 million extra rapid tests for COVID-19 and is struggling to get rid of them without chucking them in the trash, an internal Health Canada memo shows.

As the Omicron variant of the virus began to tear across Canada at the end of 2021, the government rapidly bought up rapid antigen tests, distributing most of them to the provinces so people could swab themselves for the virus at home.

Now that far fewer people are subjecting themselves to the brain-tickling sensation of a COVID-19 test outside of hospitals and other health-care settings, the government appears to have more than it knows what to do with.

“Acknowledging the volumes of tests in play and the challenge of divesting such quantity over a time-bound period, it is expected that disposal of expired tests would be required,” staff wrote to Health Canada’s deputy minister in a memo signed March 25.

The memo was obtained through federal access-to-information laws.

Rapid tests were considered both important and valuable in early 2022, as regular test capacity was reserved only for certain cases in most provinces. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Canada has spent roughly $5 billion on rapid tests.

Even after the initial rise in Omicron infections settled down, the government continued to accumulate tests in case the country was hit with another large wave of infections.

That wave never came, and as public health restrictions were gradually lifted, the government found itself with a stockpile of some 93 million tests as of March 21.

By July 25, the store of tests was still sitting at over 90 million, Health Canada said in a statement.

Provinces and territories now have enough supply of their own to give eight tests to each Canadian. The federal health department

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Health Advice

February 9, 2023admin

Neglect rapid style. This problem encourages upcycling and mending outdated apparel to make new tendencies

This is an environmentally stylish twist on the quick style tactic to dressing: Consider those people previous clothes and alternatively of tossing them in the garbage, try making them new again.

That is what two groups — the Vogue Heritage Museum in Cambridge, Ont., and The Guelph Tool Library — have in head as they inspire people to reuse apparel that otherwise would conclude up in landfills.

And that tactic, it appears, could go a lengthy way in helping lower the amount of garment elements that close up in landfills, which according to a new study is in the hundreds of thousands and thousands of kilograms a calendar year.

For its element, the Trend Heritage Museum is demanding individuals to repurpose garments to generate daring new outfits.

Any person who sews can be a part of the museum’s upcycling challenge, and the concluded garments and components will be showcased at an occasion this spring.

“Upcycling is a thing I think we’re likely to see much more of in style,” Jonathan Walford, director and curator of the Vogue Record Museum, explained to CBC Kitchener-Waterloo’s The Early morning Edition.

“I feel that’s the wave of the long term.”

Turning ‘unloved fabrics’ into much-loved pieces

Upcycling involves taking old garments and transforming them into anything new. It can be just one way to reuse textiles that might have or else ended up in the trash.

Reusing fabric from aged outfits is not new, Walford said. In the 18th century, the most costly portion of any outfit was the material. Women would retain the dresses in a trunk for their daughters and granddaughters to acquire them aside, and repurpose the substance, he stated.

A man wearing glasses and a pink shirt sits inside a CBC Kitchener-Waterloo radio booth. — Jonathan Walford is the director and curator of the Fashion History Museum in Cambridge, Ont. He claims the upcycle challenge

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Tag: rapid

Saint John library among sites

Turning ‘unloved fabrics’ into much-loved pieces