THUNDER BAY — The Thunder Bay District Health Unit says the first set of results from a weekend of drive-through tests for COVID-19 paints "a reassuring picture of what is happening in the community and district."
That's how spokesperson Lance Dyll described the outcome after all 260 people who were swabbed in the TBDHU parking lot on the weekend of April 18 and 19 tested negative for the virus.
Results from a second round of tests, conducted last weekend, are not available yet.
The drive-through system was established to help establish a baseline as health officials attempt to get a handle on the spread of COVID-19.
In an email to Tbnewswatch, Dyll said that despite the initial results, "we cannot let our guard down. We are doing a good job of containing the virus, but if we start to let up it can increase, and we need to be mindful of that."
He added "The virus is here and circulating, we know that people have caught the virus in the community somewhere but it is happening at a low level."
Since the pandemic began, more than 2,900 individuals have been tested for COVID-19 across the District of Thunder Bay, of which 69 were confirmed positive.
One person, a miner at the Lac des Iles palladium mine, died in Thunder Bay hospital due to complications from COVID-19.
The TBDHU says 276 cases are currently under investigation.
Dr. Janet DeMille says Thunder Bay is 'doing well' in minimizing the spread
Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janet DeMille elaborated on the implications of the drive-through test results in an interview Wednesday morning.
She said the fact that all the tests were negative is "in some ways not surprising."
"I sort of felt, given the cases that we currently had, the low number that are indicative of community spread, that we really shouldn't see very many positives. We're just waiting for last weekend's results," DeMille said.
She added, however, "We're not out of the woods yet by any stretch of the imagination...I think we've done very well as a community to keep the spread at a low level, but that's really because of all the measures that are in place through the provincial orders, all the closures and such, as well as everything that individual workplaces are doing, people avoiding non-essential trips, and all the physical distancing we are doing as individuals."
DeMille cautioned that "we can't stop doing these things."
Asked if she's concerned about people reaching a point of frustration that might lead to unsafe behavior, she said "It's challenging. It's uncomfortable times for sure, but if we let up we will start seeing increasing community spread."
DeMille noted "I'm experiencing certain difficulties, even myself, around this."
She said any relaxation of the provincial orders will have to be done cautiously.
"We can be optimistic and hopeful that some of these measures will allow us to do more, even within the next month, but we need to realize we are still in a challenging situation and will have to monitor even as we relax measures."
The TBDHU has no current plan to do additional drive-through testing on weekends.
However DeMille said it is looking to target more vulnerable populations for tests, as well as testing in district communities.
