opinion: a second wave on the horizon and we're turning people away at covid-19 test centres
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when i went on vacation in the middle of august, i took the opportunity to unplug from the news cycle — a rare luxury when you work in journalism. no longer was my mind filled with the barrage of covid-19 updates.though i let myself breathe, i still followed public health guidelines: washing my hands thoroughly for 20 seconds any time i came home from outside, dodging bodies in costco and walmart as if it were a game, always wearing a mask properly when outside.then, on the last week of my vacation, it happened.i was two days in at a cottage in blue mountain, ont., with my boyfriend and some friends when one of the girls got an alert on her phone from the covid app.it informed her that she had interacted with someone who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus for more than 15 minutes at less than two-metres distance in the last 14 days. the 10 of us all looked around at each other, some silent and processing the news, others audibly wondering what were the next steps. we holed ourselves up for the rest of the trip inside the cottage.we knew on our last day, this past saturday, before going home that we had to get tested.looking up where to get tested was easy enough. searching “covid test centres mississauga” returned ample results and my boyfriend and i decided to go to the valley covid-19 assessment centre because it had a drive-thru. we left blue mountain at about 2 p.m., more than enough time to get back to mississauga before the centre closed at 7:30 p.m.
people speak with a health care professional while waiting in the queue to get a covid-19 test at women’s college hospital in toronto, tuesday september 8, 2020.
peter j thompson/national post
some of the reviews on google maps said the whole process was quick, with no indication of long waits. i didn’t anticipate any problems. i figured the province had been conducting tests for months, surely it would be in-and-out. surely, at this stage in the pandemic, people wouldn’t be turned away before closing.it was almost 5 p.m. when we got to the drive-thru centre, i saw no long lineup of cars. we thought, great, we’ll get this done quick then go home and quarantine for 14 days. we drove up to a security guard sitting outside a building, who told us that we could line up if we wanted to, however the wait was already three-hours long and there was no guarantee we’d be tested today even if we did wait.i was confused. what? are they really turning people away during a pandemic? i asked the security guard what we should do and he said, not confidently, we could try coming tomorrow or booking a test online.we left and went to the mississauga hospital covid assessment centre at about 5:30 p.m. and got in line with about 30 or 35 people ahead of us, not including those already inside getting tested.we had been standing in line for 30 minutes and it had barely budged, so i beckoned a security guard over to inquire how long the wait time was. i met her halfway and stopped at a safe distance, however, surprisingly, she kept marching forward, nearly closing the distance between us. i scuttled back quick and she kept approaching, so i stuck my hand out, gesturing to keep her distance. she chuckled at her error, her smile halfway visible through her poorly fixed mask. she told me it could be an hour wait.
a health-care worker does a test at a drive-thru covid-19 assessment centre at the etobicoke general hospital in toronto on tuesday, april 21, 2020.
the canadian press/nathan denette
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luckily, i brought a book with me to read as i waited for my turn. i thought about how, at the beginning of my vacation, case counts were low. it was summer, we all enjoyed more freedom.i wasn’t following the news cycle much, but i caught glimpses of the situation worsening in ontario, such as the toronto wedding that led to 23 people catching the virus. on our drive down from blue mountain, i read about how daily cases surpassed 200 that weekend. i didn’t know it yet, but both premier doug ford and health minister christine elliott would later say a second wave is coming.nearing my turn to get swabbed, i watched a nurse turn away a handful of people at 7 p.m., half an hour before the centre closed because the line already exceeded capacity. i watched her tell the security guard to turn potentially positive people away if more came. i was shocked.during his monday press conference, ford said he noticed wait lines getting longer when pressed by a reporter who said some people had waited four hours to get a test. by the time i got out of the centre, it was a few minutes until 7:30 p.m. and there were still a couple people left in line.bianca bharti is a digital producer at the national post.
• email: bbharti@postmedia.com | twitter: biancabharti
• email: bbharti@postmedia.com | twitter: biancabharti
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