The CDL Rapid Screening Consortium is a cooperative, not-for-profit endeavour to build the screening strategy we need to accelerate a return to normality.
In August 2020, 12 companies were brought together in a unique consortium led by the Creative Destruction Lab to develop and implement pilots for screening of COVID-19 at workplaces across Canada. They had never worked on an endeavour like this and they had never worked together across industries in a focussed way. But they were driven by a common mission: to seed the plan to bring our economy back to normality. With billions being lost in economic activity each week and a massive disruption to social life brought about by a cycle of lockdowns, a system was needed. The CDL Rapid Screening Consortium’s goal is to provide that system and to make it available to all.
Community by Design
The challenge
COVID-19 is an unprecedented health crisis. We need to dedicate our energies to making sure people are protected from disease.
From an economic perspective, it is an information problem. Work and social life is not safe because we do not know who is infectious. This causes us to treat everyone as infectious by social distancing, wearing protection and cyclic lockdowns.
Solving the information problem requires information. If we can tell who is infectious, we can isolate them and protect others.
The state of play
Governments have taken steps to address the information problem. But their priority is identifying people who are infected with COVID-19 so that they can be treated expeditiously.
There is currently a testing system in place whereby people who are suspected of being infected with COVID-19 can obtain verification of it. This testing (called PCR testing) is available but it requires a health professional to administer with results available within 24 and 48 hours.
This is supplemented with a system of contact tracing that is triggered once a person is diagnosed with COVID-19. That system looks to identify that person’s contacts and to notify and evaluate them as being potentially infected with COVID-19.
Depending on the prevalence of COVID-19 in a region, these testing and tracing resources can be limited.
The opportunity
New ways of being able to determine whether a person is infectious have been developed. These measures differ from PCR tests in that, rather than identify the genetic markers of COVID-19, they identify specific proteins associated with COVID-19 infection. These markers are antigens.
It is easier to determine whether a specific antigen is present in an individual. That means antigen screens are:
Rapid: the results from antigen tests are typically available in 15 minutes or less.
Cheaper: whereas PCR tests might cost between $60 and $250 to administer in Canada, antigen screens can cost less than $10.
Targeted: antigen screens are calibrated to determined whether a person is infectious. While these may not determine whether someone is infected with a low viral load of the coronavirus, they are sensitive in determining whether someone is infectious.
These three factors mean that rapid screens can be applied at our workplaces to monitor people frequently, break chains of transmission and make those places safer.
The work to be done
Setting up screening protocols for the variety of workplaces in our society is not a simple matter. Never before have we faced the challenge of protecting so many people at scale. This involves overcoming logistical challenges and experimentation to determine best practices. The work of the Consortium is to innovate and solve these problems so that the solutions can be shared with all who need them.
Strategic Advisory Committee
Professor Ajay Agrawal
Founder, Creative Destruction Lab; Professor, Rotman School of Management
Professor Elizabeth Cannon
President Emerita, University of Calgary
Dr. T Chen Fong
Professor Emeritus of Faculty of Medicine, University of Calgary
Don Guloien
Former President & Chief Executive Officer, Manulife
John Risley
President of Clearwater Fine Foods Inc.
Mike Serbinis
Founder & CEO, League
Steering Committee
Sonia Sennik
Chief Executive Officer
Executive Director, Creative Destruction Lab
Janice Stein
VP, Strategy
Founding Director, Munk School of Global Affairs and Policy
Laura Rosella
VP, Health
Public Health Expert;
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Population Health Analytics, Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Joshua Gans
VP, Economics
Chief Economist, Creative Destruction Lab; Professor, Rotman School of Management
Avi Goldfarb
VP, Data
Chief Data Scientist, Creative Destruction Lab; Professor, Rotman School of Management