Skip to content

Niagara resident developed symptoms of COVID-19 after testing negative

Asymptomatic testing not useful to track spread of infection, Hirji says
brock-health-symposium-2
Dr. Mustafa Hirji. Photo: Thorold News archive

A Niagara resident who got a negative test result for COVID-19 developed symptoms days later – and learned they were positive after a second test confirmed the diagnosis.

Now the region’s acting medical officer of health says asymptomatic testing isn’t proving to be very useful. “We have seen the same thing happening three-four times at least, and there are perhaps more examples we are not aware of,” said Dr. Mustafa Hirji.

The nasal swabs used to confirm a diagnosis of COVID-19 are less accurate in confirming the presence of the virus in someone without symptoms, but are still being used to routinely test staff in medical facilities to prevent outbreaks as per provincial policies.

Hirji said that routinely testing people with no symptoms is clogging up the testing capacity, that this weekend at times was processing 40,000 tests at once and isn’t proving to be useful to track the spread of the infection.

“Out of the cases we find, most have symptoms,” he said. Last week, Niagara’s daily numbers dropped down to counts of around a couple of cases per day, more similar to earlier this summer, once the curve had started turning downward.

A good sign – but things can turn in the blink of an eye, says Hirji, who has been keeping a close eye on the resurgence of the spread in British Columbia, that for a long time managed to keep the levels low.

He says social gatherings and complacency remain a big concern as drivers of the pandemic, as well as the uncertainty of what the reopening of schools will do once students get back in the classroom.

Zero cases were reported on Monday. Of this weekend’s 7 cases, 5 had previous contact with a confirmed case.