CORNWALL, Ontario – In his daily press briefing, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis of the Eastern Ontario Health Unit (EOHU) confirmed that the region’s paramedic services will be conducting at home testing for COVID-19 where appropriate.
“What we want is for our local hospitals to have an off load system,” said Dr. Paul. “We now have three choices, when someone calls who needs a test, we can send them to their local Emergency Room, we will soon be able to send them to a testing centre, or we can send paramedics to their home to conduct the test.”
Dr. Paul said that the local paramedics have been trained in the testing protocols and that paramedics will also be helping with testing at off-site testing centres once they are opened. Dr. Paul hopes to have the testing centres opened by early next week.
He has said that between five and six testing centres are being planned for, one in Cornwall, one in Winchester, on in Alexandria, one in Hawkesbury with possibly a sixth one in Prescott-Russell.
Dr. Paul stated that this all depended on how congested local emergency rooms become because of COVID-19 cases.
So far, there has been only one case of COVID-19 in the Cornwall area.
