Quebec needs drive-thru testing, doctor says
Quebec could expedite the screening process for the novel coronavirus if it set up drive-thru testing sites as have Ontario and New York State, says a physician who had to wait more than 10 hours to get tested herself this week.
“Right now, calling 811 as we’re being directed in Quebec is very inefficient,” the doctor said of the phone health line, which has been overwhelmed with calls from people seeking appointments to get tested. She said she didn’t want to be identified because she didn’t want to be seen as criticizing her colleagues’ work.
“People are waiting hours on the phone, making people question whether or not they truly need to be tested because it doesn’t seem like there’s a readily accessible way of getting tested.”
However, the delay at 811 is just one reason why more Quebecers haven’t been tested, she said. At testing centres, personnel have to clean the room where the samples are taken between patients, she said.
With drive-thru testing, a greater number of people would be tested, she said, because “you essentially just drive up in your car.”
As the name suggests, a driver remains in their car while medical personnel in protective suits approach
People are waiting hours on the phone, making people question whether or not they truly need to be tested.
to take a sample to test for the novel coronavirus. The driver then leaves and waits for the result at home.
South Korea is conducting drive-thru testing and New York State implemented it on Friday, with state officials saying it will increase the number of people being tested while also decreasing the number of people coming into contact with each other.
The New York facility, in New Rochelle, is to serve 500 vehicles a day and is expected to be the first of many such sites across the state.
Ottawa opened a drive-thru testing station outside the emergency department at Queensway Carleton Hospital for one day on Thursday to deal with a backlog of 70 patients who had been identified by Ottawa Public Health as needing assessment. The hospital said drive-thru testing could be initiated again if needed.
The doctor who spoke to the Montreal Gazette said she called 811 this week after she began experiencing a severe headache, dry cough and mild shortness of breath after returning from the United States.
She said she spent two-and-ahalf hours waiting for someone to answer her call to 811 only to find out her call had been misdirected to social services instead of going to Info- Santé, apparently because of a glitch. She then waited another two hours before she gave up, the doctor said.
She was then directed to a Montreal hospital ER by someone working for the hospital, she said. After a six-hour wait there, the doctor said she finally got an appointment for testing at Hôtel-dieu hospital. She spent another hour at Hôtel-dieu, she said.
“It’s concerning,” the doctor said of the situation in Quebec. “We really have to amp up our testing as soon as we can to be able to quantify or understand the situation that we’re currently in.
“The numbers coming out are meaningless because those needing testing don’t have access to it.”