THUNDER BAY - The province of Ontario continues to fall short of its COVID-19 testing goals and as it prepares to extend its state of emergency, Premier Doug Ford says while there is light at the end of the tunnel, reopening the province won’t happen overnight.
“I just want to be safe,” Ford said during his daily media briefing on Monday. “I want to make sure we protect the people of Ontario and we don’t jump the gun on this.”
As of Monday, there are 7,470 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario and 323 deaths. The province is testing more than 6,000 people per day but that number is still well short of the 13,000 tests Ford was calling for last week.
Ford said the goal is to hit 8,000 tests per day by April 15 and more than 13,000 by the end of the month, but he once again expressed frustration, saying the province has everything in place to ramp up the number of daily tests.
“I’ve always said I’m not a medical doctor, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that the more people we test the quicker we put an end to this,” he said. “We have to rely on the doctors. We have everything we need to get these tests done.”
Spartan, a company in southern Ontario was recently granted approval by Health Canada for a rapid testing device that can produce results in a matter of hours.
Ford said this kind of rapid testing is crucial, particularly for frontline health care workers, first responders, and people living in long-term care homes, who may need to be tested every few days.
“It’s better to test than not test,” he said. “I have to follow the advice from the chief medical officer and the health team. I have to.”
The provincial legislature will reopen Tuesday for a special session where it is expected to extend the Emergency Act for 28 days. The act was first put in place on March 17 and extended for 14 days on March 30. Extending the state of emergency for an additional 28 days requires a vote by the legislature.
Other issues that will be up for discussion at Queen’s Park include municipal housing, childcare, and education. All publically funded schools have been ordered closed until May 4 but Ford could not say if schools will remain closed for the remainder of the school year.
“We wouldn’t be able to answer that right now,” he said. “That would be premature. We are seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. We are taking the advice of our chief medical officer and our health team.”
And while there may be light at the end of the tunnel, with hospitals across the province not seeing a surge of patients this month, Ford said if the numbers begin to improve, the province cannot just open the gates because it is not ready yet and more modeling is needed to show the curve going down.
“People are just getting restless. I know it’s difficult,” he said. “But that’s why we see a glimmer of hope, some light at the end of the tunnel. My biggest fear is we get another wave. I just want to make sure we do it properly, cautiously, and not just open the floodgates. It would be irresponsible.”
Ford said additional COVID-19 modeling is expected soon, which will allow public health officials to determine the best direction to go in the coming weeks.
“I want to be cautiously optimistic,” Ford said. “I don’t want people to think this is done. There is still going to be people with COVID-19 and there are still going to be deaths. Even if we turn it on a trickle, there is going to be risks. I don’t want to just jump into this. I want to be very cautious.”
