LAUSR

BACKGROUND Point of Care SARS CoV 2 devices, such as the Abbott ID NOW have great potential, to help combat the COVID19 pandemic. Starting in December, 2020, the ID NOW was implemented throughout the province of Alberta, Canada (population 4.4 million) in various settings. We aimed to assess the ID NOW performance during the BA.1 Omicron wave and compare it to previous waves. METHODS The ID NOW was assessed in two distinct locations among symptomatic individuals: acute care (emergency room, urgent care, and hospitalized patients) and community assessment centres (AC) during the period January 5 to 18, 2022. Starting January 5, Omicron represented >95% of variants detected in our population. For every individual tested, two swabs were collected: one for ID NOW testing and the other for either reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmation of negative ID NOW results or for variant testing of positive ID NOW results. RESULTS A total of 3,041 paired samples were analyzed (1,139 RTPCR positive). 1,873 samples were from 42 COVID-19 AC and 1,168 from 69 rural hospitals. ID NOW sensitivity for symptomatic individuals presenting to community AC and patients in hospital was 96.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 94.5 to 97.3%, n=830 RTPCR positive], and 91.6% (95% CI 87.9 to 94.4%, n=309 RTPCR positive), respectively. SARS CoV 2 positivity rate was very high for both populations (44.3% at AC, 26.5% in hospital). CONCLUSIONS Sensitivity of ID NOW SARS CoV 2, compared to RTPCR, is very high during the BA.1 Omicron wave, and is significantly higher when compared to previous SARS CoV 2 variant waves.