For those in N.L. who don't drive, getting tested for COVID-19 can be difficult

As cases of COVID-19 skyrocket across Newfoundland and Labrador, more and more people are getting tested — but those without access to a vehicle say getting tested is a difficult and confusing process.

When Sam Carew found out her son had been exposed to COVID-19 at daycare, she contacted Public Health to find out how to get him tested. Carew, a Memorial University graduate medical student, said she lives on campus and does not have a vehicle. 

Carew said Public Health gave her two options: take a cab to the testing site and wait outside or self-isolate for two weeks.

"At this point, my son was sick and my daughter was starting to show symptoms as well," she said in an interview with CBC News.

Given the fact that her kids were symptomatic, Carew decided against waiting outside in winter weather. She also didn't want to risk exposing a cab driver to COVID-19.

"If we got into a taxi with the taxi driver that risks exposure to that taxi driver," she said. "I don't think that that's right at all."

Carew and her husband are both able to work from home, so they decided on isolation, but she pointed out that not everyone has that option.

"I feel really bad for all the people who are in this situation who don't have any other options but to get the taxi," she said.

Carew said she is now symptomatic and believes she has COVID-19 — but has no way to know for sure.

She said she's worried about the potential effects of long COVID on her children, especially if there is no medical record that they contracted the virus. Carew said she is especially concerned about her daughter, who has had lung problems.

"I would like some sort of documentation or at least the knowledge that my daughter did have COVID at some point," she said.

During a media briefing Monday, Eastern Health CEO David Diamond said so far during the pandemic, COVID-19 testing for those who don't drive has been done on an "ad hoc basis" using public health nurses and paramedics.

"We've seen some scenarios where that's not worked for people," he said.

Diamond said Eastern Health is looking at implementing a testing protocol for people who do not have access to a vehicle.

"We'll do a better job and have a formalized process that's well communicated in the very near future."

In a statement Wednesday, a Central Health spokesperson said clients in that region who need to get tested but don't have access to a vehicle are referred to their local public health nurse, who will go to their home and test them there.

Carew, who lives in the Eastern Health region, said she was not given that option.

CBC News has also asked Western Health and Labrador-Grenfell Health how they are handling testing for people without access to a vehicle.

Cost and risk

Jiya Chandan, another Memorial University student in St. John's, said she had to pay $125 in cab rides to get tested twice last month.

Chandan said the testing site was not busy when she went there; otherwise, she would have had to pay a much higher fare.

"I was in a position that I was able to pay for it, and I also had help from people around me who supported me in paying for that taxi ride, which is really amazing." she said. 

"I was lucky, and not everyone is in that position and has, like, people who can just spot them money for a taxi ride like that."

Long lines have been reported at testing locations across the province. In Happy Valley-Goose Bay, some reported waiting more than six hours at a drive-thru testing location.

Chandan noted the potential risk for taxi drivers who have to bring potentially infected riders to get tested and wait in those long lines.

"It just feels wrong on a human level to expose the cab driver to a very contagious virus. Like, why does the cab driver have to take the brunt of this gap in our system?"

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