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Communications outage causes some delays at COVID-19 vaccination clinic

Some people stood outside in the cold for close to an hour.
CLE vaccine lineup
About 50 people lined up in a chilly wind at the CLE Coliseum on Mon. Apr 19 waiting for their COVID-19 vaccination (Troy Charles/TBTV photo)

THUNDER BAY — It wasn't the best day for waiting in line for a COVID-19 vaccination, but a chance to get protection against the virus seemed to make things tolerable for most people on Monday morning.

At one point, an estimated 50 people stood outside in a cold wind waiting to be called into the CLE Coliseum where the Thunder Bay District Health Unit is holding a clinic.

The protracted wait was apparently connected to an external disruption in communications involving data services.

The TBDHU did not explain how the problem affected the vaccination clinic, but a spokesperson said the health unit has backup plans for this kind of situation, and that the clinic continued to run "without any interruptions."

A local resident said when he arrived just before 11:10 a.m., he was told appointments were running 40 minutes behind schedule because of the communications outage.

"People are being pretty good around here, even though the weather's really bad. It's all understandable. People have to be patient, that's all I can say," he said.

Another man expressed similar sentiments, saying that even though it was cold standing outside for so long "it was well done once we got inside."

He said his wait outside lasted for about 45 minutes, while another person estimated that he waited around an hour.

At 3:30 p.m. Monday, Tbaytel reported that mobility voice and data services that were affected by the disruption had been restored. It said texting (SMS and MMS) functionality would continue to be restored gradually.




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