FREE COVID-19 Rapid Testing Kits available to community on MONDAY

12/17/2021

The Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre and the Public Safety Commission wish to inform Kahnawa’kehró:non that Covid-19 Rapid Testing Kits will be provided for free to the community beginning next week. 

Kits will be distributed within a span of 4 days starting this Monday, December 20th, until Thursday, December 23rd, from 8am to 4pm daily at the Sports Complex parking lot. In an effort to limit contact, one kit (which includes five (5) tests) per individual will be handed out to individuals inside their vehicles, similar to a drive-through/curbside pick up. We can provide one (1) box of tests for every community member. We are working off the honor system. Please take only what you require. If you don’t have access to a vehicle, please ask a family member or a friend to pick it up on your behalf. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

Rapid Tests are an additional tool that can be used to contribute to keeping us safe but are less accurate than PCR tests (done at a testing site and treated in a laboratory). Rapid Test results can produce a false negative or a false positive, especially when used as a screening tool (when used on a person with no symptoms). Therefore, a negative result is to be treated with caution, and ALL other measures (masking, distance, handwashing, ventilation) should be maintained on top of using the rapid tests.

A positive Rapid Test result will not be documented by Public Health and should be validated by a PCR test. The following are reasons you want Rapid Test positive results documented:

1. To validate that your positive result is accurate and reliable;
2. So Public Health can help you with contact tracing and then isolate all contacts. This is important to contain and limit the transmission;
3. So if you travel following your positive infection, you will not be stopped from coming back into the country (because you can test positive for several months after infection even if you are no longer contagious) – an undocumented infection can be viewed as a new infection many months later when trying to get back into the country

If you have had COVID-19 within the last 90 days, DO NOT use a Rapid Test, as your result will likely be positive even if you are not contagious.

Please refer to the instructions for the use of Rapid Tests or watch the instructional video.

This is an important development in light of the significant expected increase in COVID-19 cases. It is expected that Omicron will be the dominant strain in the region by Christmas - we have the knowledge and tools to fight this next wave of the pandemic together.