Sault Area Hospital to close its COVID-19 assessment centre later this month

The Sault Area Hospital will close its COVID-19 assessment centre at the end of March.

The northern Ontario hospital will continue to test patients admitted with COVID-19 symptoms, but anyone who qualifies for a PCR test otherwisewill need to book online with Shoppers Drug Mart, starting in April.

In November 2021, the hospital hit a peak of 7,400 PCR tests, but dropped to around 350 tests last month.

Dr. Lucas Castellani, the hospital's medical director of infection prevention and control, said he suspects the drop in test numbers was part of the reason the hospital plans to close its assessment centre.

"We've certainly seen a trend to a decreasing number of desired tests locally and then, I guess, provincially and nationally," he said.

"I think that's a cultural shift that's not unexpected."

In Ontario, people 60 or older, and anyone 18 or older at a higher risk of severe complications from COVID-19, qualify for a PCR or rapid molecular test for the virus.

Castellani said he and his colleagues are still seeing a "steady amount of the virus" in Sault Ste. Marie.

"We don't have the full picture because we're not testing as much," he added.

"We have a sense because of wastewater [testing] and then because we can compare other pieces of data like our local testing at the hospital, our number of patients who are being hospitalized, the number of outbreaks locally as well as even some of the work that we're doing elsewhere with swabbing the environment."

Other assessment centres

Dr. Glenn Corneil, Timiskaming Health Unit's acting medical officer of health, said the three hospitals in his region plan to continue supporting their respective COVID-19 assessment centres.

"As far as I'm aware they will be maintained moving forward."

Corneil added he hopes his region will continue to be part of the province's wastewater monitoring program, which could also end in April.

"So we're hoping that it's going to continue moving beyond April 1," he said.

"But some of those discussions are ongoing right now."

Health Sciences North spokesperson Jason Turnbull said the Sudbury hospital's COVID-19 assessment centre remains open and there are no current plans to close it.

But the North Bay Regional Health Centre will suspend its COVID-19 assessment centre on March 31.

"This decision was made following a decrease in the number of patients accessing the centre, and increased availability of community supports to help manage COVID-19and other respiratory illnesses," spokespersonTaylor Grant said in an email to CBC News.