Tena koutou colleagues, It is anticipated that the Minister will shortly announce the implementation of daily (per shift) saliva testing for workers at quarantine and dual use facilities. The rationale for implementing saliva testing is to provide more regular testing for our highest risk border workers using a lower impact test. The saliva test is a lower sensitivity than the nasopharyngeal swab, and hence does not replace the existing mandatory regime but adds to it. This also mirrors practice in other jurisdictions. While we are still waiting on formal confirmation, we expect that it will be formulated as follows: • •
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The coverage is intended to be those quarantine workers currently covered by the mandatory testing regime. It is only for workers at these sites, not guests. Quarantine workers will continue to have their mandatory NPS test each week. On their other shifts, quarantine workers should be offered a saliva test on a voluntary basis at this stage. The process will be confirmed in an upcoming workshop with the DHBs to ensure we tailor to local workflow and practices. The plan would be to build to 80% uptake by the end of February to enable implementation issues to be worked through – particularly impact on workflows. Jet Park is intended to be operational from Monday 25th Jan and will build uptake over the next few weeks to reach target coverage, with dual use facilities in Christchurch and Wellington to follow soon after (date to be confirmed but assume within next week). At this stage it is not planned to rollout beyond these facilities. The saliva sampling will be setup to be self-administered (after some initial training) to reduce the impact on the health workflow at these facilities. We are accelerating e-ordering of testing for these facilities to further support making this testing as efficient as possible, however it is likely that the saliva testing will initially involve the current manual ordering processes. The saliva sample will be neat saliva, using a “drool in a cup” approach.
A review of the saliva testing and its role in the border testing regime will be included within an planned overall review of border testing in February/March. The implications for lab processing is being worked through as part of this process. We would appreciate early indications if there are wider system implications with the introduction of this additional test. We would appreciate CEOs support to ensure teams are enabled in implementation and that the implications for your wider systems are identified early. We understand that this is adding to an existing workload and asking for greater personal commitment for MIFQ workers. Thank you in anticipation. Ngā mihi, Sue Gordon. Deputy Chief-Executive COVID-19 Health System Response, Ministry of Health
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21/1/2021