DRIVE-THRU TEST
Motorist Patricia Zurczak gets tested for COVID-19 by an EMS paramedic during the first day of random drive-thru testing at the Silvercity Windsor Cinemas parking lot Friday as local health officials continue to monitor the spread of the virus.
Like water up the nose.
That’s how Laurie Bray described the on-the-go nasal swab she received while in the comfort of her vehicle Friday on Day 1 of random drive-thru COVID-19 testing in Windsor and Essex County.
“For as quick as the testing was, and what I’ve heard about it — what it entailed — I decided I wanted to go out and get tested,” Bray told reporters moments after pulling her car away from the parking space where a bit of her DNA was collected.
Starting at 10 a.m., an ever-growing line of vehicles snaked through the Silvercity Windsor Cinemas parking lot on Walker Road, where the mobile drive-thru testing station was set up. Motorists patiently inched towards three white tents staffed by paramedics with Essex-windsor EMS and public health unit employees clad head to toe in personal protective equipment.
Local medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said Thursday the goal would be to test more than 2,300 individuals at the mobile unit over as many days as are needed to reach that number. He said the lab facility responsible for processing the region’s specimens is prepared to handle that number of samples.
During Friday’s Windsor-essex County Health Unit briefing, Ahmed said testing random members of the public will help answer “some very specific questions” about how prevalent the disease is in the general population.
“The idea behind the drive-thru testing is not to identify those people who are really interested in getting the test done, but have a broader mix of the population — everyone and everyone,” he said.
With the capacity to test more individuals, he said, the data collected will show how the virus has spread among people not going to local assessment centres, “through a self-selection bias,” but who feel concerned enough to make the trip.
As of Friday morning, 16,734 people in Windsor and Essex County had been tested for COVID-19, with more than 4,000 of those being residents of long-term care and retirement homes.
The drive-thru testing station will operate in the same location in the Silvercity parking lot on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Testing is restricted to individuals age 12 and older with a health card. Those who visit the drive-thru testing centre will also be asked for their address and contact information.
Officers with the Windsor Police Service will again be in the area over the weekend to assist with traffic control.
Essex-windsor EMS Deputy Chief Justin Lammers told reporters at the drive-thru centre he is confident the health unit’s testing goal will be reached within days.
“The line is quite long,” he said. “We know the public wants it, and we’re getting it done. It’s going to give us a good snapshot of what we’re looking at in our community in terms of infection.”
Testing is still available at assessment centres located at Windsor Regional Hospital’s Ouellette campus and Erie Shores Healthcare in Leamington. Local members of the First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities can visit the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre, 1405 Tecumseh Rd. W., to be tested.
Ahmed said he is “anxiously awaiting” further information on antibody testing in Ontario, with conversations underway at the provincial level on how and when such testing might start.
The focus of individuals and employers should remain on infection prevention and control, Ahmed said. A person who tests negative for the disease now could still contract it in the future.