Trudeau urges Canadians to stay home for first socially-distant long weekend: It’s ‘going to be very different’

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged people to be strong, stay home and consider Skype-ing that family dinner as the country heads into the long weekend - and what could be a major test of Canadians' commitment to social distancing.

"I know the long weekend coming is very important to many Canadians," he said "Whether you mark Good Friday or Passover, Easter, Tamil New Year, or Vaisakhi, usually this is a time we spent together," he said. "This weekend is going to be very different."

The long weekend comes as public health experts in some jurisdictions are beginning to speak more optimistically about early evidence that social distancing measures are slowing the spread of coronavirus. But questions about community spread remain - particularly as Ontario lagd behind the west in terms of testing.

While some jurisdictions including British Columbia and Alberta are doing "extraordinarily well" with testing, as Trudeau put it, not all provinces can say the same.

While Ontario has the capacity to complete 13,000 tests per day, according to the health ministry, the testing labs have processed tests for fewer than 4,000 patients a day since Sunday, the Star reported Tuesday.

Speaking hours after Trudeau, Ontario officials said they were planning to increase their daily testing capacity from 4,000 per day to 16,000 by early May, and shift their focus towards people who are more at risk, including residents of long-term care homes and health-care workers.

The rest will go to symptomatic members of at-risk populations, including those in Indigenous and remote communities, people who live in homeless shelters or prisons, and health-care workers.

In comparison, testing in Alberta has peaked at over 4,000 people per day at some points, and the province has recently loosened requirements to allow anyone in Calgary - a current coronavirus hot spot - with symptoms to get tested.

Experts have argued that testing is a critical component of knowing where the virus is spreading, and how to ultimately contain it.

But Trudeau defended Canada's record on testing overall, saying that testing regime has been good so far but "absolutely can get better," and pointing out that Canada has done significantly more tests than the United States, despite having one tenth the population.

"We know that there's more to do, but we can certainly know that the lead we've taken on testing is part of the reason why we're seeing a flatter curve than other places."

He added that Ontario will be "addressing some of the challenges that they faced over the coming days."

But work remains to develop more testing kits and speed up the testing process.

"Once we are able to get into those coming months, where we will be on guard but not as shut down or paused as we are right now, testing rapidly and efficiently of as many people as possible will be a key part of that path forward," he said.

For now, he reiterated the importance of people staying home, only going outside when necessary and staying two metres apart. If Canadians can stay strong now, it will mean this will be the "first and worst" phase for COVID-19 and social distancing measures can be relaxed sooner.

Trudeau has appealed to young Canadians in the past to do their part with social distancing, and he included a message for kids in his address Friday, noting that the Easter Bunny has a big job to do this year.

He told children to ask their parents if they could put a picture in the window, asking the bunny to bring extra chocolate for nurses and doctors.

"They need a lot of energy to keep us all safe. And this is how you can help them to do their job."

With files from Kenyon Wallace and Ed Tubb and the Canadian Press

Alex Boyd is a Calgary-based reporter for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @alex.n.boyd