Health officials in Ottawa are opening the city’s first COVID-19 “care clinic” on Monday in the city’s west end in order to help divert patients experiencing symptoms of respiratory illness from family physicians’ offices and keep them out of local emergency departments.
Dr. Andrew Willmore, the Ottawa Hospital medical director leading a regional clinical care coordination group, said family doctors in the region have had trouble operating their clinics’ amid the new coronavirus pandemic due to the number of patients coming in that require “meticulous” infection prevention protocols, specialized equipment and specialized staff.
“It’s just a bit overwhelming, if you’re a smaller family doctor’s office,” Willmore told reporters during a daily teleconference call about the city’s COVID-19 response.
The new care clinic is not another assessment centre like the one at Brewer Park Arena, which is dedicated to people who only need to get swabbed for COVID-19 testing, Willmore explained.
If someone shows up to Brewer Park requiring medical care, they have to be transported to an emergency department.
The new care clinic — located at the former D. Aubrey Moodie Intermediate School in Bells Corners and run by the Queensway Carleton Hospital — will be equipped to handle Ottawa-area patients with more serious symptoms “beyond what you would want to handle at home,” Willmore said.
Willmore told reporters the new clinic on Moodie Drive has been equipped to do some diagnostic tests like chest X-rays and lab work. The site will be operated by staff and physicians from the Queensway Carleton Hospital, as well as other primary-care physicians and pediatricians in the community, according to news release issued through the City of Ottawa later Thursday.
The Queensway Carleton Hospital posted footage of the new clinic on its Twitter account. The clinic will be open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day.
Health officials confirmed last week they were preparing two care clinics — one in the west end and a second in the east end operated by Hôpital Montfort — and that the centres were ready to go when they got a green light from the Ontario’s health ministry and when the need arose.
Willmore, who is in charge of emergency management at the Ottawa Hospital, said there hasn’t been “a great surge” in Ottawa’s emergency departments so far but “planning assumptions have to look forward.”
News of the first care clinic’s opening day comes as Ottawa Public Health reported 58 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, which represents the largest single-day jump in the city to date.
That brings the total number of COVID-19 cases confirmed so far in Ottawa to 252, according to the health unit — although officials have reiterated the real number of cases is likely much higher due to testing limitations.
Jump in local COVID-19 cases ‘not a spike’: OPH
However, Ottawa’s associate medical officer of health said the relatively large increases in positive cases on both Wednesday and Thursday is “mainly due to the backlog of tests with specimens collected on or before March 20.”
Asked how much longer larger case increases can be expected, Moloughney said it will take the province “a number of days” to get through the backlog. After that, any new confirmed cases will be more “reflective” of recent infections and help local health officials as they track the outbreak, he said.
That said, cases in Ottawa are still doubling every four cases, according to Moloughney.
“We need to keep our foot on the accelerator,” Moloughney said in reference to containment measures.
Of the city’s 252 cases, 28 are in healthcare workers and first responders, the public health unit said in its latest COVID-19 epidemiology report published Thursday afternoon.
Twenty-four people are currently in hospital in Ottawa due to the virus; seven of them in the intensive care unit.
Local health officials reported no new deaths linked to COVID-19 on Thursday. Three people, all in their 80s or older, have died from the virus, according to the health unit.
The number of reported outbreaks — five — also remained unchanged from the previous update.
The public health unit’s Thursday report is based on the “most current information available” as of 4 p.m. on April 1.
Majority of cases in people younger than 65
While seniors represent about half of the hospitalized cases, people 65 years and older only account for about 19 per cent of total coronavirus cases in Ottawa to date.
People in the 20 to 44 years age bracket represents 40 per cent of cases, while people 45 to 64 years old represent 39 per cent of the total cases.
The age of the people diagnosed with COVID-19 ranges from two to 97 years old.