Coronavirus: London assessment centres report 70 to 130 no-shows daily as case numbers soar

As coronavirus case numbers set new records daily, officials with the assessment centres are noticing a growing number of people not showing up for pre-booked appointments.

Mike McMahon, executive director at Thames Valley Family Health Team who jointly runs the assessment centres with the London Health Sciences Centre, said they are seeing anywhere from 70 to 130 no-shows a day.

“That’s like spoiled fruit. When an appointment is missed that’s a missed opportunity for this system to get a person tested,” he said.

This comes at a time when he said they are up 50 per cent in terms of testing capacity since September.

On Tuesday, the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) reported 184 new cases of the novel coronavirus, a new all-time high for the region which has seen case numbers steadily rising.

As of Tuesday, the MLHU reported a record 184 new cases and a death toll now at 112.

The new daily highs in cases come at a time when The Oakridge Arena Assessment centre was closed for the holidays to give workers a break from Dec. 25 to Jan. 3, meaning testing in the city was at half capacity.

With both assessment centres now open again, McMahon said they are seeing a surge in appointment requests as they reach capacity daily.

“People will find their ability to schedule a test will be pushed out further and further from the time we would like to serve them,” he said.

Appointments at both the Oakridge Assessment Centre and the Carling Assessment Centre are either pre-booked online or by phone.

McMahon said they hope people who no longer need their appointment cancel it, giving them the ability to take someone last minute who needs a test.

Most recent data shows that as of Dec. 20, 2020, the test positivity rate in the region was 3.3 percent with 10,670 tests being conducted that week.

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