WINDSOR

COVID-19 assessment centres in Windsor-Essex begin appointment-only testing

Published Sunday, October 4, 2020 1:13PM EDT Last Updated Monday, October 5, 2020 8:33AM EDT

A technician prepares COVID-19 coronavirus patient samples for testing at a laboratory in New York's Long Island on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (AP / John Minchillo)

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WINDSOR, ONT. -- Local COVID-19 assessment centres are now taking appointments only.

They will no longer be accepting walk-ins.

The new testing model went into affect Sunday after Premier Doug Ford made the announcement last week.

Appointments can be made by phone for either the Ouellette campus or St Clair College testing centres.

Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj says about 160 appointments were already made for Sunday alone. Around 400 appointments can be booked daily, seven days out from your preferred date.

Musyj also tells CTV News the hospitals medical labs should receive the province’s COVID-19 test kits by mid October. The labs will now have capacity to turn tests around in one day.

Musyj says on a daily basis 60 beds are occupied by people waiting for their results. The testing machine will help free up some of those beds.

In Leamington, Erie Shores HealthCare’s new online booking tool is now active for patients to book time to get tested at the hospital’s COVID-19 assessment centre.