OLDS — Rapid asymptomatic screening for the COVID-19 virus is being made available to Olds firefighters, RCMP and frontline town staff.
And it can be made available to businesses, but not ordinary members of the public, acting director of emergency management Jennifer Lutz says.
Lutz made that announcement during a presentation to town council’s April 12 meeting, held via Zoom.
“This won’t be a program available to the public – we can’t do that – but we can definitely offer advice to any businesses that want to sign up for this program. It’s free,” she said.
“It’s available to employers to help reduce the spread of COVID in workplaces and it is for pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic cases.
“It’s a nasal swab. The results are (available in) 15 minutes and participation in our staff, it’s 100 per cent voluntary,” she added.
“It was announced on the weekend that the premier said there’s a ton of different tests out there available so again, if a business is listening and wants to participate in the program, we’d be happy to help you not reinvent the wheel or help you with that application.”
Lutz pointed out that five pharmacies in town are now offering vaccinations, so that’s deemed to be enough capacity for the population.
In addition, she noted that vaccines are also available in "larger-scale centres,” adding the closest one for Olds and area residents would be in Red Deer.
