The federal government wants blood.
Perhaps your blood.
Nearly 1,800 people from Newfoundland and Labrador have recently received a blood-test kit and survey to participate in a study aimed at identifying how many Canadians have been previously infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The project, which is conducted by Statistics Canada and supported by Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force (CITF), will involve 1,768 tests in this province. Its aim is to produce a nationally representative sample to reflect COVID-19 seroprevalence at national, provincial, and territorial levels.
Seroprevalence is the level of a pathogen in a specified population as measured in blood serum.
Ottawa is investing $7 million through the CITF in the Canadian COVID-19 Antibody and Health Survey. In total, 48,000 Canadians ages 1 and up — and who have been chosen randomly — will have received kits requiring dried blood samples at their homes. The objective is to assess how many Canadians have had COVID-19, and whether they had symptoms or not.
That information was made available in a news release Tuesday even though Statistics Canada has issued similar information before the holiday season when a small number of test kits were sent out.
However, Stats Can says that as more Canadians receive the kits, they believe there would be increased interest in the project and a need to repeat the message.
