A London epidemiologist and professor says she agrees with the Ford Government’s decision to open up coronavirus testing, but says more needs to be done when it comes to increasing the speed of test processing and making sure residents are aware of the changed messaging.
Premier Doug Ford announced Sunday that anyone concerned they may have been exposed to COVID-19 can now get tested, whether or not they have symptoms.
The announcement came as the average daily number of reported cases in the province has been slowly creeping upward over the last week, with the province falling short of its testing goal of 16,000 tests per day.
It also came on the heels of the province implementing stage one of its three-stage reopening plans last week.
“It’s going to be key to, not only just bringing things down, but once they get numbers really low, what we’re going to have to do is be really vigilant, and we’re going to have to catch those little fires when they start and try to put them out early before they grow,” said Dr. Greta Bauer of the testing change.
“If people are going to get tested and they’re not getting their results for a week, by then there might not be time to notify people who might have been in contact, who might have already spread it to someone else,” she told 980 CFPL’s Craig Needles.
Just 8,170 tests were completed in the province on Sunday, the eighth straight day Ontario has fallen short of its goal of doing 16,000 a day — a number far short of its capacity of over 21,000.
The province reported 404 new cases on Monday along with 29 more deaths, while in London, two new cases and one death were reported.
Ontario has seen growth rates of between 1.5 and 1.9 per cent for 16 of the past 17 days, and the chief medical officer of health has said the province’s curve appears to be in a plateau.
The province is blaming the recent uptick in cases on gatherings that predate the province’s stage one reopenings on May 19, such as Mother’s Day events that came contrary to social distancing rules.
The premier has spoken about testing asymptomatic front-line health-care workers, large workplaces such as food manufacturing facilities, groups such as truck or taxi drivers, and doing a second round of testing in long-term care.
He said Monday that Ontario will target specific postal codes that are hot spots, such as parts of Peel Region including a particular area of Brampton, parts of Toronto including northern Etobicoke and Scarborough, as well as the Windsor-Essex area.
The change in testing protocol is a marked departure from earlier guidelines for the general public, which said that only people displaying one or more symptoms of the novel coronavirus should be tested.
“A lot of people picked up on that message that even though they were concerned they had COVID, testing was really restricted to people who travelled at first and then to people with very specific symptoms,” Bauer said.
“I think there’s a lot of messaging work to do to let people know that at this point, if they’re concerned they may have COVID, they actually can get a test, whereas that wasn’t true in the past.”
Bauer adds that more consistent messaging is needed from the province that clearly outlines to residents why the government is doing what its doing.
In New Brunswick, for example, Bauer notes the province has issued a clear, colour-coded plan for how it will move through the pandemic in different phases.
“It’s clear what level of social contacts or social distancing are required, what that means for individuals, what that means for businesses,” she said.
“They’re really clear criteria on when the province moves forward into the next phase and what the warning signs are that would make them have to go back to a more distanced phase. I think Ontario could really use something like that, because it’s going to be with us for a while.”
Bauer noted that the messaging from Ford has also implied that while the province has testing capacity, the public isn’t coming forward to get tested.
“At the same time, the last I had heard, there was still a backlog of tests waiting to be tested, so I am not sure the extent to which the capacity actually matches what they’re implying they could do,” she said.
The province reported Monday morning that around 3,900 tests were under investigation.
In an email to The Canadian Press on Sunday, a spokesperson for Ontario’s Minister of Health said the province didn’t anticipate demand outpacing supply.
Regardless, Bauer says, “the message coming out was very clearly ‘go get tested’ and that they do have the capacity, so I think we should take them up on that.”
It remains to be seen whether Londoners will take up the province’s advice.
Right now, the health unit estimates that between 300 and 500 people are tested for the novel coronavirus in London and Middlesex on a daily basis (specific testing figures aren’t available) with most tests conducted at the city’s two assessment centres and in hospitals.
Dr. Chris Mackie, medical officer of health for London and Middlesex, said Monday that it was still too early to say whether the provincial move would see an rise in visits to the assessment centres, located at Oakridge Arena and at Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre.
“We wouldn’t expect a rebound immediately, but we definitely hope to see that over the coming weeks as people develop symptoms,” he said, noting that only one of the centres is open on the weekends due to lower demand.
Even with testing more readily available, Mackie stressed the need for Londoners to continue social distancing measures and proper hand-washing to avoid a spike in new cases.
“Now that it seems like the pandemic is waning, people’s attention has turned,” he said.
“We as a community and as a society, if we’re gonna get through this quickly and as effectively and efficiently as possible, we need people to continue with those physical distancing measures and keeping their distance.”
— With files from The Canadian Press
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