BC’s COVID-19 testing facilities have been plagued with massive wait times in recent days, and as a result, positive cases have skyrocketed influencing health officials to announce “additional measures to stop the spread of COVID-19.”.The anticipated restrictions, which will be detailed Tuesday afternoon, come only one day after the previous set came into effect..The surging cases are evidently the product of increased testing, and the recently growing lineups at testing facilities began backing up as officials estimated a worst-case scenario of 2,000 new cases per day by December 29..BC uses the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, and the used cycle threshold (CT) varies across jurisdictions. The typical range in BC is 35-42, and sometimes up to the mid-40’s according to the BCCDC’s medical director..The higher the CT, the more likely it is to pick up fragments of inactive viral DNA that poses no threat, and it does not differentiate between inactive and active viral DNA, therefore a positive PCR test does not necessarily mean one is infected..More than 800 people have tested positive each day since Friday in BC, with the Vancouver Coastal Health region seeing the highest number of new cases. It’s unknown how many of those cases are actual infections, nor is it known how many are the mild Omicron variant, which has now replaced Delta as the dominant strain in the US..Officials are expected to release details on “variants of concern,” specifically Omicron as it relates to BC on Tuesday afternoon, in addition to detailing a rollout of take home rapid tests..Residents in Mission, Chilliwack, and Abbotsford were able to pick up rapid test kits over the weekend..More to come….Reid Small is a BC-based reporter for the Western Standard.,rsmall@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/reidsmall
