Dr. Colm Henry:

There is testing of residents based on public health advice. Sometimes that is mass testing of one institution or sometimes it is based on clinical suspicion. That is happening all the time. From the evidence we have accrued internationally since the beginning of this crisis, the biggest predictor of outbreaks is community transmission. The level of community transmission is the single most important predictor of how residential care facilities are affected and, as such, while Deputy Butler characterised the outbreaks in nursing homes as a function of transfer of people who were not tested, the fact is that the important actions were advised. Testing enables the public health actions that are necessary, that is, isolation of patients and infection prevention and control measures. Testing is not an end in itself. Looking back now, with our awareness of asymptomatic transmission, it is certainly possible that some people who had no symptoms who were transferred from acute hospitals to residential care facilities took the virus with them. It is equally possible that asymptomatic people who were working in residential care facilities transmitted the virus. Hence the importance of focusing in this exercise in the coming weeks on the level of asymptomatic transmission of the virus among healthcare workers.