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Winding down of free COVID-19 rapid test kit access in N.B. ‘an abdication of what public health is supposed to be,’ says epidemiologist

We know that COVID-19 is not an equal-opportunity disease, we’ve known this for four years. COVID tends to have a disproportionately high impact on people who are lower on the socio-economic ladder; people who don’t have the luxury of working from home, people who are doing essential work, people who because of their income are living in more crowded conditions. These are all risk factors and they’re all socio-economically tied. So to say, ‘Yeah, there’s this tool that will keep you safe if you have enough money to pay for it,’ I think is an abdication of what public health is supposed to be, which is public.

— Colin Furness, infection control epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Toronto