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The test is quick and painless and the results are back within 20 minutes.
COVID-19 screening for LNG work camp employees is up and running at Kelowna International Airport.
Metal containers in the parking lot at Kelowna International Airport have been turned into a COVID screening unit and it began testing today.
It's a partnership between the airport and LNG Canada.
"You've got people who are being tested who are actually in a cohort, who are travelling together, they're working together at their temporary home," said Airport Director Sam Samaddar, "you're protecting the community that they're travelling to, but also on their way back home, you're protecting the community they live in."
The testing station has been set up by Whitecap Risk and Safety Consultants.
"We're using COVID-19 antigen screening," said Spokesperson Chris Geisler, "to mitigate the risk of infection to return to the workplace for workers for LNG and other industry clients."
The process will allow the company to get more people working.
Geisler said it would be nice to see this kind of testing more widely available to the general public.
"We're trying to make it easy for people and painless," he said, "just to help the system along and let people return to normal as best as possible."
Samaddar has been advocating for Canada-wide testing at airports for months.
"Unfortunately, it takes a national strategy," he said. "We can't just do it piecemeal."
About a hundred workers are expected to be tested at the Kelowna facility each week.
Those workers are coming from places like Vancouver, Nanaimo and Kelowna.
All are flying to Northwest Regional Airport in Terrace before they get to work.
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