On Sunday, Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Officer of Health told Nova Scotians that new testing methods for COVID-19 were being implemented.
Doctor Robert Strang says temporary assessment centres will be opened in some communities with outbreaks on an as-needed basis.
“We now know that this disease is in our communities. That’s why we’re adjusting our testing strategy. We want to have more options to identify and test for COVID-19 in communities,” he said during a live webstream.
Strang said the first of these centres opened today in Elmsdale. He clarified that these testing facilities are not for walk-ins, and patients need a referral from 811 to go there.
“We need to be flexible and be able to react quickly to the path this disease may take in any community in Nova Scotia,” Strang said. “When we identify communities where our surveillance suggests increased disease activity, we may stand up temporary assessment centres if there isn’t a centre in close proximity.”
The top doctor said these clinics would help minimize the chance of spreading COVID-19 in hospitals.
“How long these temporary assessment centres will stay open in any one community will depend on the disease activity that we pick up and the needs of the community,” he said.
However, Strang told the public that we need to be careful about singling out locations.
“We also have to be careful about stigmatizing and labelling communities,” he said.
The province will also be beginning the use of mobile testing units, which Strang said will cater to communities that don’t have adequate space for testing facilities.
“This would be a portable unit in a large truck that could be brought into communities temporarily to do screening and testing,” he said.
In addition, the EHS will be using mobile units to perform clusters of testing in seniors homes or for people with mobility issues. The EHS currently has two such vehicles, one in the Halifax Regional Municipality and one in Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
“A decision on the use of these units and where to deploy them will be made in discussion between public health, 811 and EHS on a situation by situation basis,” said Strang.
Strang also emphasized that regular testing at the QEII Health Sciences Centre’s microbiology lab will expand to 24/7 starting tomorrow, April 6.
“This will allow them to process well over 1000 tests a day if necessary,” Strang said.
