Long wait for answers

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This article was published 12/03/2020 (1653 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Organized chaos was the atmosphere at two of Winnipeg’s COVID-19 testing centres Friday, as people concerned about contracting or spreading the illness were tested.

As of Friday afternoon, one location – Access Winnipeg West – was at capacity and recommending people return Saturday. The other location, Access Fort Garry, handed out numbers to people.

Christine Brouzes, a community service worker, instructor at Red River College and co-director of ride-hailing service Ikwe Safe Rides, waited for her number to be called.

“I have a lot of community contact, and I’m feeling under the weather, and I need to feel safe that once I am feeling well, hopefully in a day or two, that this is a cold that’s passed,” she said.

“Or, if this is COVID-19, then I know I need to have different precautions and stay home a lot longer.”

Brouzes, who had arrived an hour earlier, described her experience signing in to be tested as “very rational.” She was told the wait would be between 60 to 90 minutes, at least.

The note she was given said she was patient 170, and she said when she arrived she had heard them calling for patient 68.

Many patients leaving both centres were hesitant to provide their names to the Free Press. One of those people had returned from Egypt Thursday after travelling abroad for a month.

She said she had been told the wait would be about two hours. She wanted to get screened as a precaution.

“When we got to Calgary, we thought ‘Oh, for sure, when we get back to Canada, they’re going to screen us.’ (There was) nothing,” she said.

Regardless of the results, she said she plans to self-quarantine.

At Access Winnipeg West, about 50 people waited at the connected walk-in clinic, and more appeared to be waiting in their vehicles outside. Many people had brought their children to be tested.

Matt Stephens, who works for a pension company, brought his two daughters to be tested after they had returned from a trip to California and learned some people there had contracted COVID-19.

“One of my daughters had a sore throat, so we just wanted to make sure we weren’t infecting anyone around the community,” he said.

He said he and his daughters were swabbed after being asked if they were experiencing symptoms of the virus, and was told he would receive results within 24 to 48 hours.

Stephens said the family was “not too worried,” about their own chances of contracting the virus.

“We know that if you’re generally healthy, you’re OK, but I have employees who have some spouses who aren’t well, so I didn’t want to be the one to pass it on to them.”

While he described the wait as “long,” Stephens stressed it was apparent the clinic workers were doing their best given the circumstances.

“It’s a long wait on TeleHealth first, I think it was an hour-and-a-half wait on TeleHealth, and then coming in here was another two-hour wait. In the end it was about four hours,” he said.

Telehealth is a videoconferencing service that allows users to speak with a health-care provider. The service is provided at health facilities in communities across the province.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_