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ACCESSWIRE TORONTO, ON / ACCCESSWIRE / February 24, 2021 / Sparta Group (TSXV:SAY) (the "Corporation" the "Company", "Sparta Group", "Sparta Capital", "SAY.V" or "Sparta") has just announced that Assure Tech's EcoTest® COVID-19 IgM/IgG Antibody Rapid Test and EcoTest® COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test they planned to incorporate into their COVID-19 Safety System have been authorized by Health Canada for point-of-care use across the country. This means Sparta can officially offer the Canadian trucking industry, as well as individuals in other business sectors, both antibody and antigen rapid tests as they endeavor to maintain a healthy workforce. The terms antigen and antibody have become quite mainstream since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; but not everyone understands the difference. While antigen testing is intended to help determine the presence of viruses, such as the SARS-CoV-2 that can cause COVID-19, antibody testing can provide indication of whether or not the body's immune system sensed the presence of a particular virus and thus was called upon to fight. Cataloguing the results of both can help assess and determine prior COVID-19 infections, while watching for the spread of a virus and thus providing greater insight into the health of a workforce. Sparta management is pleased that their antigen test has one of the highest sensitivities rates of any antigen test authorized by Health Canada. "Thanks to the hard work of our partner, SBL Testing Technologies, we can offer the trucking industry, as well as other industries, the opportunity to test their workers in a quick, convenient and comprehensive manner. By combining predictive analytics of employees' health with the information gained through complimentary EcoTest® antigen and antibody test protocols, every employer now has the ability to track and manage all COVID-19 testing in one dashboard," said Sparta President, John O'Bireck The information gained through antigen and antibody test protocols is quite different but complimentary. While antigen testing is intended to help determine if a worker is presently infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, antibody testing can provide indication of whether or not a worker's immune system has had to fight the virus in the past, even though that worker may not have experienced any noticeable symptoms. Furthermore, all the testing can be tracked and catalogued within the Achu HealthT app. Studies suggest that antibodies to COVID-19 can be detected for weeks or even months after exposure. But there is not yet any definitive answer as to whether having COVID-19 antibodies automatically means you are immune to getting the virus more than once. However, by tracking the test data of those who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 will help provide the workplace with some much-needed intel. The authorizations from Health Canada comes at a time when stress among commercial truck drivers is at an all-time high. As pointed out in a recent CBC news story, the Canadian government's latest travel measures, which call for COVID-19 testing upon arrival, don't apply to truck drivers. As reported by the Canada Border Services Agency, almost half of the 10 million entries into Canada since March 2020 were commercial truck drivers. "As the government scrambles to put together a plan for vulnerable truckers and the truckers themselves call for more protection, we have a set plan; a system that we can rollout to help put a lot of minds at ease," O'Bireck added. |