Key elements — testing isn’t just for people who don’t want or can’t get the vaccine. It’s another tool that can be applied for everyone initially in the workplace but also when possible in the community to identify risk, prevent infection transmission and stay as safe as possible so together we can defeat COVID-19 as fast as possible!
Inscience have secured MOH approved COVID-19 Antigen tests that are already in use in NZ, are accurate, tested and approved option for rapid testing. This type of Covid Test will soon be approved for use and delivery to and for your workplace by trained testers able to understand, guide and meet your testing needs. Learn more about how to purchase and implement serial rapid testing using our Ministry of Health authorized tests.
It’s clear that our personal choices have a significant impact on the greater scheme of things, which is perhaps no more true than when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines and COVID testing.
Unfortunately, despite the fact that our government have made vaccines widely available and have continuously encouraged people to get vaccinated many choose not to or some cannot get the vaccination for health reasons. The people who are unvaccinated are at risk of more serious illness and more likely to have poor outcomes and those that are vaccinated have lower the chances of contracting the virus, and in case of infection, decrease the chances of serious illness. WE encourage those with concerns over whether too get vaccinated to search out credible advise on this.
Whether people are vaccinated or not, it’s important to remember that we all need to take steps to help manage our collective lives alongside COVID-19. To do so, an extremely valuable measure in our battle to control ongoing spread of Covid infection is to COVID test on a regular basis to protect our people, their whanau and wider community. Identifying risk and taking action to reduce or eliminate that risk has long been a part of a NZ workplace and surveillance using Covid 19 rapid antigen testing will be available soon to identify covid infection and risk.
By COVID testing on a regular basis, even when asymptomatic, you are limiting the extent to which the virus can spread to others.
Scale matters. Imagine for a moment, a future where people were tested on a regular routine basis and could then immediately self-isolated if they were determined infectious/contagious with COVID-19. Studies estimate and state that regular testing every five days can lead to a 40% reduction in the number of infections – and those estimates are based on a more lengthy 24-hour PCR processing time of a result.
Rapid antigen testing frequency and who should bbe tested needs careful consideration and we can help you determine this and how it may work for your workplace(s)
Rapid antigen tests will be available from Inscience, and provided as a testing service in your workplace by Drugwise, local to you, can provide accurate results in just 15 minutes and up to 45 results per hour and can provide peace of mind to a worker and the workplace of any risk from Covid 19 and you can arrange for followup action to self-isolate. Combining frequent testing, vaccination, and our routine applicable measures such as mask wearing, hand washing and physical distancing is the answer to beating the COVID-19 pandemic once and for all.