Article content continued
That is also true for the ability to process the tests. The current capacity at labs that process COVID-19 tests in the region is 2,500, Forster said.
Alex Munter said on Twitter that CHEO, which is in charge of children’s testing at Brewer, has already tripled staff numbers at the assessment centre and will expand further as the centre’s hours expand. But that depends on finding enough people to do the work, something Munter, CHEO CEO and president, is pessimistic about.
“The hospitals are running out of humans to do this work. We are hiring more staff, adding hours and sites, re-designing processes. But with COVID-19 surging, it won’t be enough.”
Munter said pharmacies should take some of the testing pressure off hospitals.
Premier Doug Ford and the head of the Ontario Pharmacists Association Justin Bates both said that an agreement to do so is in the works. The province is in discussions with pharmacists to allow them to do COVID-19 testing on people without symptoms in pharmacies. During a press conference, Ford said the plan is something people should be hearing about in the next couple of days.
Bates said a similar program has been successful in Alberta. “The goal should be to test every citizen eventually.”
But Ottawa’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vera Etches had a different message for residents Tuesday — that, especially with growing demand, people should only get tested if they have symptoms. Although the number of parents and children seeking testing has increased dramatically in recent days, the majority of people getting tested in Ottawa have no symptoms, she said.
