Local focus of virus testing shifting
Ontario Health teams will mobilize for high-risk settings under new strategy
The Windsor-essex County Health Unit reported 14 new cases of COVID-19 in the region on Thursday.
One person is an agricultural farm worker, two are close contacts of confirmed cases, six contracted the disease through community spread, and the origins of five cases are currently under investigation by public health.
Although the health unit has performed mass testing for COVID -19 on multiple groups in the region, the organization’s concentration is changing under a new direction from the province, according to medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed.
“Under the new provincial testing strategy, public health will focus its efforts on case and contact management and management of outbreaks, while Ontario Health will mobilize teams for testing among high-risk settings going forward,” he said during the health unit’s daily news conference.
The health unit and its partners have performed mass testing in long-term care homes and retirement homes, shelters, group homes, housing with supports, and among farm worker populations, Ahmed said.
The random drive-thru COVID-19 testing is currently being conducted by the health unit, Essex-windsor EMS and other partners “to provide a sense of the prevalence of COVID -19 in Windsor-essex.”
Since the health unit and Essex-windsor EMS paramedics began performing random drive-thru testing for COVID-19 last Friday, more than 2,600 individuals have been swabbed in their vehicles in Windsor, Essex, and Kingsville. On Thursday, the mobile testing station collected additional specimens from residents in Amherstburg in the Libro Centre parking lot.
“This is a very targeted screening that’s being done at each of these municipalities,” Ahmed said. “Random testing is important, as it provides better quality data for analysis, planning, and intervention to make public health recommendations.”
Testing for all residents, including those without symptoms, remains available via local COVID -19 assessment centres located at Erie Shores Healthcare in Leamington and Windsor Regional Hospital’s Ouellette Campus. First Nations, Metis, and Inuit individuals and their families can also access testing at the Southwest Ontario Aboriginal Health Access Centre in
Windsor.
Other organizations are also capable of performing COVID-19 tests when the required materials are available, Ahmed said. They include primary care providers, EMS, long-term care facilities, and mental health and addictions facilities.
“COVID-19 testing is a pointin-time test, Ahmed said. “A person can test negative and then become exposed the next day and test positive later. Testing does not replace the need to follow prevention measures and public health guidance.”
That includes cleaning, sanitizing, wearing of personal protective equipment if appropriate, maintaining physical distance, staying home, and isolating if ill, he said. Hand washing and “proper respiratory etiquette,” like coughing and sneezing into a tissue or elbow, should also be performed.
No antibody testing for COVID-19 is happening in Windsor-essex yet, though Ahmed has previously said conversations about rolling out antibody testing across the province are ongoing.
As of Thursday morning, 996 residents of Windsor-essex have tested positive for COVID -19. That number includes the 556 individuals who have recovered, the 313 still self-isolating, and the 66 who have died.