Ontario to ramp up COVID-19 testing from 4,000 to 16,000 test a day

The province plans to ramp up from 4,000 to 16,000 COVID-19 tests a day over the next four weeks and is expanding priority testing groups to include symptomatic essential workers and specific vulnerable populations including cancer and dialysis patients and pregnant women.

Testing will be doubled to 8,000 by April 15, said Premier Doug Ford in a Friday afternoon press conference.

"We are ramping it up," he said. "If we can do it sooner, we are going to do it sooner " we are doing everything we can to test as many people as possible."

Health Minister Christine Elliott said that anyone with symptoms and a clinician referral for testing can be tested at an assessment centre. Chief medical officer Dr. David Williams said that a doctor will determine if testing is necessary on a case-by-case basis.

However, the ability to ramp up testing is dependant on supplies of swabs and personal protective equipment which are in global demand, provincial officials said.

"Proactive testing" means that members of priority groups may be tested when not symptomatic if there has been risk of exposure or if they are returning to work with their team, Dr. Willams said.

"Proactive means we are taking the direction from Occupational Health and Safety and working with them to ensure the health of the individual worker as well as the whole workforce at the institution they are involved with," Dr. Williams said.

Asymptomatic residents and staff in long-term care homes will not be tested unless there is contact with someone who is showing symptoms for COVID-19, provincial officials said.

Active monitoring is going on of residents and staff and testing will happen if any symptoms, including atypical symptoms are identified, officials said. Close contacts of that person, including those who are asymptomatic, will be tested as well.

Elliott said this approach is intended to concentrate testing resources on long-term care homes where there have been outbreaks.

The province plans to expand testing for priority groups at hospitals and assessment centres to 4,000 a day and total testing to 16,000 a day by May 6.

Ontario has been criticized for testing far fewer people than other provinces and for confusion around who can be tested.

According to the provincial guidelines, testing can be done for people with symptoms in priority groups or by clincian referral. The currently identified priority groups are heathcare workers including caregivers, hospital in-patients, long-term care home residents, first responders, indigenous or remote communities and those in "congregate living" such as homeless shelters, prisons and group homes.

The list is now being expanded to include essential workers and vulnerable populations including cancer and dialysis patients and pregnant women.

Same-day testing results are accessible to patients through an online portal.

Elliott provided an expanded list of symptoms that could indicated COVID-19. It now includes a hoarse voice, difficulty swallowing, loss of sense of smell or taste, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting.

For seniors, the new list of symptoms includes chills, delirium for no other obvious reason, falls, acute functional decline, increased heart rate and decreased blood pressure.

The previous list of symptoms included difficulty breathing, fever, muscle aches, fatigue headaches, cough, runny nose and sore throat.