A saline gargle test is now available for adults in the Vancouver Coastal Health region – which includes Richmond – who need to get a COVID-19 test.
The health authority announced Wednesday that the test is now available for adults at test collection centres in cities and some testing locations in rural areas.
In Richmond, the gargle test is available at both the testing site in the jetSET parking lot near the airport, as well as the collection centre at Richmond Hospital.
The test was first announced in September, when it was made available for school-aged children as a more comfortable alternative to the nasopharyngeal swab test.
“We’ve tried to make it more efficient so that we don’t have long lineups and that (the test) doesn’t take as long to do,” said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry at the time.
Those who opted to get tested this way shouldn’t eat, drink, chew gum, brush their teeth, smoke or vape for at least an hour before the test.
The gargle test, however, isn’t available in acute care settings, at assessment centres or family doctor’s offices, according to VCH.
It’s also not available for people who are being tested as part of an outbreak, or who are referred by their primary care provider or a Public Health team – meaning those individuals will still need to get tested using the nasal swab test.
A full list of testing sites in the VCH region, and which sites offer the saline gargle test, can be found at vch.ca/covid-19/covid-19-testing.
