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Later within the day, MacLeod introduced through Twitter: “Along with $10.2 Million for repairs and rehabilitations for Ottawa hospitals, I can verify Ottawa will obtain three pop-up testing centres as of tomorrow (Friday). Places are nonetheless being finalized.”
Throughout a media briefing earlier Thursday, MacLeod thanked employees on the metropolis’s 4 testing centres “who’re being stretched to the restrict” and mentioned the federal government was a number of choices to “alleviate the stress.”
“We in Ontario have extra testing than wherever else within the nation, we’re persevering with to construct on that capability and we’re in lively discussions, ensuring there are extra cellular models delivered to town of Ottawa — that dialog is definitely taking place as we converse — so my hope is within the very close to future that capability will likely be expanded,” MacLeod mentioned Thursday morning.
“We acknowledge that the lengthy waits are unacceptable,” MacLeod mentioned. “We additionally acknowledge that the evaluation centre at Moodie was constructed for a 200-person capability and is now accepting greater than 600 guests per day.”
Ottawa’s 4 COVID-19 evaluation centres have been flooded in latest weeks with demand. The evaluation centre at Brewer Area just lately prolonged working hours to eight p.m., however folks had been being turned away by mid-afternoon Thursday.
The west-end clinic on Moodie Drive reached most capability shortly after 11 a.m., in line with Ottawa Public Well being.
MacLeod mentioned choices are being “aggressively pursued,” and mentioned Premier Doug Ford “has been very clear he’ll work with anybody, maybe pharmacies and different locations (to increase testing capability).
“As a Nepean resident — I symbolize the Moodie evaluation centre — I need to guarantee that all my constituents have entry to testing after they want it, so it’s a precedence for the federal government and we’re persevering with to work on it, and we’ll have detailed conversations with our well being companions,” MacLeod mentioned.
Ottawa Public Well being has not but introduced the places or the working hours of the pop-up websites.