Covid-19 testing being expanded in northeastern Ontario

Public health officials in northeastern Ontario say testing for Covid-19is ramping up.

They are expanding their focus to include more people who are at ahigher risk because of their health or because of how they work, as well as those who are experiencing symptoms besides fever and coughing.

"The list of symptoms is broader," said PennySutcliffe, medical officer of health for Public Health Sudbury and Districts.

"We'veheard before [of symptoms like] cough and fever, shortness of breath ... and now [that's] extended to include milder symptoms, like a sore throat or runny nose."

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She said they are now going to conduct what they call "targeted surveillance" throughout the north to get a better sense of the spread of the virus in northern communities.

"So for a limited time ... probably a couple of weeks ... [there will be]an opportunity for peoplewho have mild symptoms to be tested in our assessment centres," Sutcliffe said.

"People still have to phone ahead and book an appointment. But if [they have] cold-like symptoms, just feeling unwell or muscle aches and pains [they are encouraged] to call and book an appointment."

This "targeted surveillance" aims to identify cases and geta better picture of community spread, as well the effectiveness ofpublic health measures.

Over at the Timiskaming Health Unit, testing will be ramped up as well.

"So far our testing has been through our emergency departments and our primary care partners. But we'll be moving this week to opening our regional assessment centres, which have been on standby for a couple of weeks now as we anticipate doing more testing," said Glenn Corneil, acting medical officer of health.

"We're looking for people with other viral symptoms. You don't have to be a health care worker,or somebody who has been really sick to get tested. We're seeing more evidence of other symptoms land targeting that population for testing, to see how much Covid-19 is in our area."

As for how the virus is spreading across the north, Corneilsaid it's too early to say.

"We have to always be a little bit careful. You can have one person in a small area like ours, orif we have a little mini-outbreak, that can skew our numbers," he said.

"We had our ninth and 10th cases over the weekend ... the numbers are not surprising. Often in the north, with respiratory illnesses like this, we're a few weeks later than than in the south."

Continuing to enforce the distancing and the other measures to prevent cases is preferable to dealing with a surge ofpositive cases, Corneil added.

Rapid testing

Sutcliffe said their are advantages and disadvantages to living in an area that isn't as densely populated as it is in southern Ontario

"In terms of the spread of the virus, it'sprobably helpful. However, once it's introduced into a community, thespreadcan be pretty fast and can overwhelmmore fragile health care systems, more quickly."

Both officials say Health Canada's recent approval ofa portable Covid-19 test that provides results in an hour is good news. But how quickly will that technology arrive in northern Ontario?

"I have no line of sight on how that ultimately will be implemented," Sutcliffe said.

"I was very pleased to hear that news. What I understand is that it might facilitate enhanced testing in more rural and remote communities. So if it's used in that way, I think that would be tremendous ... and in terms of our getting a better and quick understanding of virus spread in smaller communities."

Both health units say Covid-19 tests are taking three or more days to be processed.

To hear more from their interview with CBC Sudbury Morning North radio host Markus Schwabe, click below: