Ontario working with businesses on testing
Health minister grilled over provincial strategy as cases surpass 25,000
Ontario is now working with the business community on wider testing for COVID-19 after facing repeated criticism from scientists for not having a regime in place with more people returning to their jobs.
“People are nervous about this,” Health Minister Christine Elliott acknowledged Wednesday as a Star compilation of data from health units showed the number of coronavirus cases topping 25,000 for the first time.
“We’re working with businesses to determine how they are going to do their own testing,” she told the legislature’s question period after facing several queries about the province’s testing strategy.
“It’s a complicated process.”
Just last week, Ontario health officials insisted there were no plans to target broader groups of workers outside of health care, such as grocery store cashiers at higher risk from being in contact with hundreds of customers daily. But that has suddenly changed.
“Which groups are considered the best to do that and what kind of arrangements are to be made, we haven’t sorted that out yet,” said Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate medical officer.
“There could be some companies that want to entertain testing on a sentinel-type basis. We could entertain to do that,” chief medical officer Dr. David Williams added at a daily briefing.
Testing could include blood tests to check for antibodies, known as serology testing, or point-of-care tests that produce results in minutes but can be less reliable than deep nasal swabs sent to labs.
Elliott did not say when the plan would be in place but epidemiologists and opposition parties have been urging broader surveillance of COVID-19 beyond new directives allowing people with minor symptoms to get tested.
“I’m concerned there’s not a more formal plan for testing,” Liberal House Leader John Fraser said Wednesday after MPP Mitzie Hunter (ScarboroughGuildwood) raised the possibility of “blind spots” if people like grocery store workers, taxi and limo drivers are not checked regularly.
Health units across the province recorded another 435 confirmed and probable cases as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, according to a Star compilation of data in the previous 24 hours, bringing the tally to 25,364 since the first case was diagnosed in late January. Another 47 deaths increased the fatality count to 2,065.