Unity Health Toronto, 30 The Queensway, Toronto, ON, M6R 1B5, Canada.
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Can J Public Health. 2022 Dec;113(6):898-903. doi: 10.17269/s41997-022-00691-z. Epub 2022 Sep 12.
Rapid antigen screening can be effective in identifying infectious individuals in occupational settings to reduce transmission and outbreaks. We report results from a pilot project at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) and describe the operationalization. Toronto Pearson is a large international airport encompassing over 400 employers and, pre-pandemic, with approximately 50,000 employees.
An employee screening program was piloted between March 8 and May 28, 2021, to implement rapid antigen testing for asymptomatic employees. Recruitment targeted enrolment of 400 employees and yielded participation of 717 from 58 companies. Employees were recommended to book three times per week for nasal swabs on site, and were tested on the Abbot Panbio rapid antigen test. No action was taken from a negative result, and if positive, the employee was told to isolate at home and obtain a confirmatory polymerase chain reaction test.
A total of 5117 tests were performed on 717 individuals over 12 weeks; 5091 tests were negative (99.5%), and 22 individuals tested positive (3.1% positivity rate). One hundred twenty-four (17%) completed the post-participation survey. All respondents reported that testing did not change their behaviour at work with respect to public health recommendations, and only 1 (1%) reported behaviour change outside of work (socializing with family) as a result of the program.
This pilot program identified 22 (3.1%) potentially infectious employees. Onsite testing was feasible and highly accepted by this group of employees who completed the survey. Education resulted in reasonable uptake and no substantial change in behaviour, although the survey response rate may limit generalizability. Home-based testing may facilitate larger recruitment.
快速抗原筛查可以有效识别职业环境中的感染个体，从而减少传播和疫情爆发。我们报告了在大多伦多机场管理局（GTAA）进行的试点项目的结果，并描述了其实施情况。多伦多皮尔逊机场是一个大型国际机场，拥有超过 400 家雇主，疫情前约有 50000 名员工。
2021 年 3 月 8 日至 5 月 28 日，一项针对无症状员工的快速抗原检测员工筛查计划在该机场进行了试点。该计划的目标是招募 400 名员工，最终有 58 家公司的 717 名员工参与了该计划。员工被建议每周三次在现场预约鼻腔拭子检测，检测采用 Abbott Panbio 快速抗原检测。阴性结果无需采取任何措施，如果结果呈阳性，则告知员工在家隔离并进行聚合酶链反应检测以确认结果。
在 12 周内，对 717 名员工进行了 5117 次检测；5091 次检测结果为阴性（99.5%），22 次检测结果为阳性（3.1%的阳性率）。124 名（17%）员工完成了参与后的问卷调查。所有受访者表示，检测并未改变他们在工作中遵守公共卫生建议的行为，只有 1 名员工（1%）表示由于该计划改变了其工作之外（与家人社交）的行为。
该试点项目发现了 22 名（3.1%）可能具有传染性的员工。现场检测是可行的，并且得到了完成调查的这组员工的高度认可。虽然调查的回应率可能限制了其普遍性，但教育的实施促进了较高的检测参与率，且行为没有发生实质性变化。居家检测可能更有利于扩大招募。
