Hamilton’s drive-thru COVID-19 testing centre opens tomorrow

Hamilton | Ontario | COVID | Latest News |

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Published April 16, 2020 at 5:59 pm

The City of Hamilton announced the location of the new drive-thru COVID-19 testing centre which will open on Friday (April 17).

The City of Hamilton announced the location of the new drive-thru COVID-19 testing centre which will open on Friday (April 17).

The Dave Andreychuk Mountain Arena, located at 25 Hester St. on the mountain (just off Upper James), was selected as the location for this unique testing centre.

Last week, the City announced that they’d be ramping up their testing capabilities for the virus as per provincial directives.

“As announced last week, the provincial criteria for COVID-19 testing now includes symptomatic individuals from vulnerable populations including symptomatic health-care workers, first responders, children attending essential daycare and more,” says a press release issued Thursday (April 16).

“Increased COVID-19 testing is an important initiative to help in the management of the disease in our community.”

Please note that you will still require a referral from your family doctor or Hamilton Public Health Services to access screening and get an appointment at the drive-through COVID-19 testing centre or assessment centres.

The new drive-through testing centre will be operated by the Hamilton Family Health Team and McMaster Family Health Team and is being staffed by primary care clinicians.

It will be open from 11:00am to 3:00pm this Friday to Sunday and the City says operational details beyond this weekend will be shared soon.

Hamilton’s two other COVID-19 assessment centres, located at 690 Main St. W (West End Clinic) and 2757 King St. E. (East End Clinic), are still open and operating at their regular hours.

There have been 2,850 visits to Hamilton’s two COVID-19 Assessment Centres and 2,270 tests have been completed since opening on March 16, 2020.

The new criteria for testing include:

  • Symptomatic health-care workers (regardless of care delivery setting) and staff who work in health-care facilities and long-term care homes (these healthcare workers should follow their organization’s internal processes for screening and testing).
  • Symptomatic First Responders
  • All symptomatic patients with contact with a confirmed case or contact with an individual who has been sent for testing
  • All symptomatic community/ambulatory patients with:
  • Medical comorbidities OR
  • Working in an essential industry
  • Symptomatic children attending essential daycare
  • Symptomatic household members or family caregivers living with/providing care to those with medical comorbidities

Medical comorbidities include heart disease, chronic lung disease, renal disease, and immune compromise.

Hamilton’s Public Health Service (PHS) says significant symptoms include new cough, fever, shortness of breath (even when not active), change in taste and smell, loss of smell or taste, new-onset muscle aches and fatigue.

People may also report unexplained or significant headache, sore throat, runny nose or diarrhea. Symptoms in young children may include lethargy and/or decreased feeding.

Photo courtesy Hamilton Health Sciences’ Facebook page

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