WINNIPEG —
With COVID-19 restrictions in place, getting packages in the mail is more and more commonplace, but one local woman got a delivery she wasn’t expecting, a special kit from the Government of Canada.
Ashley Parker, a Winnipeg native, is one of many who received the Canadian COVID-19 Antibody Health Survey.
“It was just saying that they were doing studies on antibodies for COVID-19 and they wanted us to prick [my daughter’s] finger and send in her blood sample,” said Parker.
The survey involves sending a kit to Canadians ages one and up to assess how many have had COVID-19 and whether or not they’ve had symptoms.
Parker’s kit was for her 14-year-old daughter.
“I was a little thrown back. I hadn’t heard anything about these tests being done, so I was a little hesitant, but then I did some more research into it and I saw that it was legitimate,” Parker said.
The kits were distributed through Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.
Co-Chair Catherine Hankins said the study will determine the level of immunity Canadians have to COVID-19 and help gain a better understanding of immunity in general.
“There’s a whole immune science component, as well as a zero prevalence, meaning trying to determine how many Canadians have actually been infected,” said Hankins.
“We have information from specific populations that are at high risk, but we don’t have the overall framework to know, what does it look like in the general population Canada wide,” she said. “That’s why this study is so valuable.”
Hankins said people who take the test will receive their results in the mail, telling them if they have antibodies or not.
The study is sampling 48,000 households across the country, all chosen at random.
Every sample in the country will be sent to Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory for storage before being sent out to specialized labs for testing.
Parker said her daughter is excited to be one of the Canadians chosen to help.
“It’s been rough with COVID-19 for everybody, so to feel like maybe we could help in some way, that’s pretty neat,” said Parker.
