Testing priority in next couple weeks at Northwestern Health Unit

A provincial plan to test people for COVID-19 living in long-term care could be completed by the middle of this week, at least in a portion of northwestern Ontario.

Many of the tests completed in the area are sent to Winnipeg for analysis, giving test results in a matter of days, instead of a week.

"I think the vast majority of these people, because we don't have an outbreak, are going to be asymptomatic, said Dr. Ian Gemmill, the acting medical officer of health for the NWHU.

"It'll be helpful in terms of, if all the tests are negative, which that's what I hope to expect, that we can show that yes, we have managed to avoid this." 

Even with the low number of cases, Gemmill said he agrees with the plan to open the entire province, economically, at once. 

"I would be very worried that if we went ahead with a separate plan for the north, and then ended up with discovering that we actually were in the middle of local transmission because as I've explained before, it takes up to two weeks to see that (transmission take place)," he said.

Gemmill said he has "cautious optimism" that the region will not see any outbreak of COVID-19, noting there has been no evidence of community transmission to date.

Gemmill said over 1200 tests have been administered, with over 800 tests returned with negative results. The remainder of the tests are still awaiting results.