Health units lock their doors, open assessment centres to cope with COVID-19

Most of Ontario’s health units were setting up assessment centres last month to test for COVID-19.

Some were walk-in and some weren’t. The province explicitly asked that no one go to an assessment centre without a referral from a physician. Assessment centres for COVID-19 are designed to reduce pressure on hospitals and reduce the interactions of people who have COVID-19 with other people, especially the sick. Some assessment centres, like Chatham-Kent’s at 47 Emma St., are indoors. But others, like the assessment centre at Orangeville, are drive-thrus.

Meantime, many of Western and Southwestern Ontario’s 15 health units and Eastern Ontario’s eight health units have locked their doors.

The province has a self-assessment questionnaire (see link on farmers
forum.com) that people can use to see if their symptoms are consistent with COVID-19. Some health units are offering assessments over the phone to people who don’t have family doctors.

The health units broadly recommended that anyone with a fever, who develops a new cough or has any difficulty breathing to self-isolate immediately. However, if you feel you aren’t getting enough air to breathe, call 911 immediately.