Rapid Antigen (RA) screening for COVID-19 in the workplace is quickly becoming an  important tool. RA identifies the asymptomatic or presymptomatic carriers of the COVID-19 virus at a point in their infection where their viral load is high and therefore, they are most likely to be shedding the virus and potentially infecting others.

While RA is less sensitive and won’t identify infected people as early as PCR testing, RA tests are less expensive, have a faster turnaround time, and are effective at detecting COVID-19 when the virus is most infectious, helping to stop the spread and providing a higher degree of confidence to your employees and your customers.

The widely accepted “gold standard” of COVID-19 testing utilizes real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR), which has a very low limit of detection (LoD). A lower limit of detection indicates greater analytic sensitivity, as the test can detect a positive result with fewer viral RNA copies per sample.

PCR-based tests are the best fit to prevent spread and confirm a suspected COVID-19 infection, as they have the low limit of detection necessary to identify a positive result at various stages of the disease even when viral load is very low.

LifeLabs offers a convenient self-collection PCR kit for employees to test for COVID-19 safely and easily in the comfort of their home. The kit contains a safe and easy to use minimal invasive swab, which they will insert 1-1.5cm into their nostrils. The kit will then be sealed, packaged, shipped via courier, and tested at a LifeLabs laboratory, providing you and the employee with results within 48 hours of receipt at our testing laboratory.

The WorkClear™ technology application provides easy to use web-based tools for both employers and employees.  With a simple interface for non-medical staff to monitor COVID-19 status, our employee application allows for self-registration, scheduling and confirmation of appointment slot, daily risk and symptom assessment, view test results, receive periodic testing reminders, and display their safety status. The self-assessment tool is built through Thrive Health in partnership with Health Canada, and has been used by millions of Canadians.  The employer application allows designated administrators to view each employee’s status through a central dashboard. Our platform is built on privacy and security industry standards to maintain the safety of personal health information. The technology is flexible and scalable and organizations can pick and choose the features that they’d like to use.