THUNDER BAY - The province of Ontario has been lagging behind the rest of the country in the number of COVID-19 tests being conducted and Premier Doug Ford said that needs to change.
“No more excuses,” Ford said during his daily media briefing on Wednesday. “We need to get it done. Bottom line.”
Ontario has been testing an average of between 2,000 and 3,000 people a day. Ford said he expects that number to climb to 13,000 tests per day starting on Thursday.
“My patience has run thin,” he said. “There are no more excuses. We have the capacity now. We have the testing capabilities. We have the assessment centre capacity. We say we can do 13,000 a day. Then we need to do 13,000 every day.”
According to Ford, a lag in testing was due to a lack of reagent, a testing solution used to determine the presence of COVID-19. In the last four or five days, the province has restocked reagent to increase testing capacity.
Ford said the focus should be on testing residents in long-term care homes, as well as frontline healthcare workers and first responders.
“It is critical we take care of these people,” he said. “Simultaneously, we have to continue to test the public as well. It’s all hands on deck right now. Test, test, test.”
Other nations around the world, particularly South Korea, have been successful at reducing the spread of COVID-19 due to widespread testing.
When asked if people would be turned away for testing if they didn’t meet specific criteria such as not having travelled outside of the country, health minister Christine Elliott, said it will still be up to public health officials to determine who should be tested.
“The criteria have changed slightly for health care professionals,” she said. “The common symptoms we have already discussed, but they have expanded to include other categories to suggest a COVID-19 case. That is something we are leaving to our assessment centres to be able to use their clinical judgment to determine whether the test should be administered.”
As of Wednesday, there are more than 5,200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the province of Ontario, the second highest in Canada behind Quebec.
Ford said he will not be focusing on the past and the lack of testing that was done. He also said he is entrusting public health officials to take advantage of the increased testing capacity and did not speak of any measures to enforce increased testing.
“The buck stops here, I am accountable, and I have no problem being held accountable,” he said. “These tests are going to get done. I am going to be looking at those numbers every single morning.”
