With the number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario passing the 5,000 mark, premier Doug Ford says the province needs to start testing everyone possible. Ontario is last among all the provinces for the number of people tested.
Ford says his patience is wearing thin and that the number of people being tested for COVID-19 isn’t good enough. He turned his anger on his own health officials, especially after the latest figures showed the number of tests actually dropping over the past week.
"No more excuses. It’s unacceptable,” Ford said.
Per capita, Ontario is testing fewer people than any other province. Out of a total population of more than 14 million, just over 84,000 people have been tested.
One reason, according to some officials is a shortage of a chemical salution used with testing kits. That has been replenished and Ford wants to see the test numbers increase to 13,000 a day.
"I want to see every long-term care facility tested, every patient. I want to see the health care workers tested at the long-term care along with senior residents. I want to see every frontline health care worker in this province tested,” Ford said.
Ford said Ontario has learned from other countries that repeatedly tested to help flatten the curve. But some infectious disease experts say it would probably be better to focus testing on the general public to get a better sense of the spread of the coronavirus.
