{"id":78651,"date":"2020-09-30T15:47:18","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T12:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/ottawa-moves-on-rapid-covid-testing-but-antigen-tests-arent-here-yet\/"},"modified":"2020-09-30T15:47:18","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T12:47:18","slug":"ottawa-moves-on-rapid-covid-testing-but-antigen-tests-arent-here-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/ottawa-moves-on-rapid-covid-testing-but-antigen-tests-arent-here-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"#Ottawa moves on rapid COVID testing. But antigen tests aren’t here yet."},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Ottawa moves on rapid COVID testing. But antigen tests aren’t here yet.<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n Politics Insider for Sept. 30: The feds pre-purchase millions of ‘point-of-care’ tests, 338Canada on the state of play south of the border and sit back, relax and watch the bison roam\n <\/div>\n
\n Welcome to a sneak peek of the\u00a0<\/em>Maclean\u2019s\u00a0Politics Insider\u00a0news<\/a>letter.\u00a0Sign up to get it delivered\u00a0straight to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday, Procurement Minister Anita Anand<\/strong> announced the feds signed\u00a0an \u201cadvance purchase agreement\u201d<\/a>\u00a0to buy 7.9 million rapid tests<\/strong> from Abbott Laboratories. Those tests, which could produce quick results and be administered in doctors\u2019 offices, haven\u2019t yet been app<\/a>roved. The feds are now shifting from tests meant for provincial labs to these so-called \u201cpoint-of-care\u201d tests<\/strong>, writes Patricia Treble in\u00a0Maclean\u2019s<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Health Canada says part of the reason for the delay in approving such fast tests is that it had prioritized authorizing the type of devices required by public health officials, in particular lab-based PCR tests<\/strong>. Now, as cases surge but provinces want to keep their economies and societies open, the focus is shifting<\/strong> to point-of-care tests, and specifically antigen tests, which are easy to use, a senior federal government official said today. \u201cThey are now our No. 1 priority<\/strong>,\u201d she said, while cautioning that \u201cwe want to make sure we are in no way compromising the safety of the devices.\u201d There are six such antigen tests under review at Health Canada, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Parliamentary Budget Office\u2019s latest economic outlook report<\/a>,\u00a0another series<\/a> of predictably gloomy projections, landed with a thud. \u201cWe expect that the COVID-19 pandemic and oil price shocks will have a permanent impact<\/strong> on the Canadian economy,\u201d reads the report. The number-crunchers offered a tiny scrap of a bright spot in the form of a projected federal deficit this year of\u00a0$328.5 billion<\/strong>\u2014$15 billion smaller than the last federal guess in July. The PBO says federal debt will reach $1.3 trillion<\/strong> by 2026, when the debt-to-GDP ratio will sit at 47.3 per cent. The report comes with a huge asterisk, however, because it \u201cassumes that there will not be a severe second wave<\/strong> of infections.\u201d That second wave is now underway.<\/p>\n

Good luck, America\u2014Five takeaways from the debate:<\/strong>\u00a0Marie-Danielle Smith watched the first showdown between Donald Trump<\/strong> and Joe Biden<\/strong> so you didn\u2019t have to subject yourself to all the chaos. She scrounged out five takeaways from the debate stage, preambled with this intro:<\/p>\n

During the first presidential debate of 2020, President Donald Trump was a perfect caricature of himself, speaking in hyperbolic soundbites<\/strong> that couldn\u2019t have sounded more off-the-cuff. Former vice president Joe Biden appeared alternately incredulous, amused<\/strong>, confused<\/strong> and pained<\/strong> by the experience, letting out a \u201cWould you shut up?\u201d within the first 20 minutes of Trump\u2019s incessant interjections.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Where the U.S. election will be won or lost:<\/strong> Maclean\u2019s<\/em> contributing editor\u00a0Philippe J. Fournier is keeping a close eye on the presidential race. As Trump and\u00a0Biden faced off in the first of three debates, Fournier published his first of many state-of-the-race snapshots. Check out his full projections, which reflect a remarkably stable race<\/strong>\u00a0in which the incumbent Trump still has a shot<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

No U.S. presidential election in this century has measured a horse race as stable as the 2020 Biden-Trump race. Since April, Joe Biden has led consistently in the national numbers by an average of 5 to 10 points<\/strong> no matter what the news cycle brought\u2014including a still mostly uncontrolled pandemic raging throughout the country. Even the Democratic and Republican conventions in August did not manage to move the needle significantly, a rarity in election years<\/strong> south of the border.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A distraction from the drama:<\/strong>\u00a0With so many eyes on the boisterous debate south of the border, your newsletter correspondent offered our American neighbours an alternate universe in which leaders debates stick to public policy instead of personal shortcomings\u2014and when they do get personal, they steer clear of insults and strike knockout blows that shift the electoral ground. Recall the 1984 federal leaders debate<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

John Turner<\/strong>, the Liberal leader who\u2019d been prime minister for just three months after Pierre Trudeau\u2019s retirement, hoped to win his own term in power. Brian Mulroney<\/strong>, the Tory leader for just over a year at that point, hoped to prove to voters that he was the real deal. And Ed Broadbent<\/strong>, the NDP leader, hoped for an electoral breakthrough for his social<\/a> democrats.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Elsewhere, Canada\u2019s ambassador to the UN, Bob Rae<\/strong>, didn\u2019t even need all 90 minutes of the debate to drain a bottle of wine<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not that finger, please:<\/strong>\u00a0So far, the hybrid model of parliamentary voting in Ottawa has produced some Kodak moments. Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith<\/strong> voted as he read his small child a bedtime story<\/strong><\/a>. Another MP voted<\/a> from outside a Boston Pizza<\/strong>. Yesterday, an inevitable tech glitch produced guffaws when Liberal MP Emmanuella Lambropoulos<\/strong> failed to unmute herself to vote. As her hands flailed animatedly in front of the camera, Speaker Anthony Rota mistook an index finger for the next one over. Cue the laughter. Watch the moment of levity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the wake of Canada\u2019s reckoning with a crisis in old folks\u2019 homes hit hard by COVID-19,\u00a0the B.C. Government and Service Employees\u2019 Union published the results<\/a> of a provincial poll on long-term care<\/strong>. The union found that a majority of respondents supported more non-profit homes in the province. When the results exclude undecided respondents, the results are even more stark: 71 per cent<\/strong> either strongly or moderately prefer not-for-profit operators, and 73 per cent<\/strong> say the role of for-profit operators should be reduced to some degree.<\/p>\n

Sit back, relax and watch the bison:<\/strong> These are stressful times. We could all use a distraction that embraces a bit of zen. Thank god for Grasslands National Park<\/strong>, where explore.org has powered a constant live feed of a popular watering hole in the Saskatchewan park\u2014for, you guessed it, thirsty bison. Why not watch the sun rise<\/strong><\/a> with these magnificent beasts?
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