Walk-in COVID-19 testing paused in Ottawa amid Omicron surge

Ottawa's COVID-19 Testing Taskforce says it is pausing walk-in testing at its assessment centres in the city as it sees a spike in demand.

In a bulletin Tuesday, the taskforce said that, at this time, walk-ins would be paused but no changes would be made to testing people with appointments. 

"Currently, Ottawa's assessment centres and care clinics have been advised to follow existing testing criteria for adults, children, and youth with booked appointments," the taskforce said. "Walk-in testing has been paused to keep testing capacity available to those essential workers who require an urgent COVID-19 test."

While residents were strongly encouraged to book appointments for testing, some sites had a limited capacity for walk-in patients who met provincial testing criteria. 

The taskforce says more than 3,600 swabs were processed at assessment centres in the city on Monday.

On Monday, the taskforce, which coordinates all COVID-19 testing in the city, said that it expects testing guidance to change in the coming days, which could prioritize essential workers and vulnerable populations.

"As COVID-19 cases and contacts continue to climb in Ontario and here in Ottawa, we expect that the approach to COVID-19 testing will change with new prioritization criteria that will focus on vulnerable populations and essential workers," the taskforce said.

For now, it remains unclear as to who would qualify.

Elysia Desmier tried to get a test at Brewer Park Testing Centre this past Sunday, after isolating for a week from an exposure to someone who has COVID-19, but was turned away.

"The nurse told me, because I’m asymptomatic, I don’t need to go for testing," she said. "They cancelled my appointment right there and I just had to quarantine for the remainder of the ten days of this exposure."

This is her second time through this process, after a separate exposure weeks earlier.

"I had two close contacts in the past two-and-a-half weeks,” Desmier explained.

The previous time, she was able to take the test and she was negative.

“I was told I could still continue to work, because I was vaccinated.”

Appointments for COVID-19 tests at Ottawa's assessment centres have been extremely limited in recent days, with residents telling CTV News Ottawa they cannot schedule any new tests in the city.

• RELATED: Ontario residents waiting days to get COVID-19 test

This comes on the heels of new guidance from Ottawa Public Health to self-isolate if you have symptoms of COVID-19 and can't get a PCR test, regardless of your vaccination status.

The public health unit issued a letter to doctors, nurse practitioners and clinicians on Friday, advising that with limited testing capacity, the health unit would now be asking residents who can't get a timely test to simply assume they have the Omicron variant.

"Because of this unfortunate reality, OPH will be directing people with any symptoms of COVID-19 who are unable to access a timely COVID-19 test to assume that they are infected with Omicron and self-isolate immediately for 10 days from symptom-onset," the health unit said. "Their household contacts, regardless of vaccination status, will also be directed to isolate."

This applies even if someone with symptoms tests negative on a rapid test, OPH says, because those tests may come back with false negatives.

Some of Ottawa's testing capacity has been moved over to the vaccination effort. The Centretown, Sandy Hill, and Somerset West Community Health Centres have paused their COVID-19 testing services as their staff and resources are redeployed to support the province’s mass vaccination and booster campaigns.

"Vaccines are a critical defence against COVID-19, and we are supportive of the approach to prioritize staffing to ensure as many Ontarians as possible get vaccinated," the Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce said.

Ottawa's average testing positivity rate is 8.7 per cent—the highest since late April—and the average turnaround time from when a swab is taken at a testing site to the result is 35 hours.

--With files from CTV News Ottawa's Peter Szperling.

Most common symptoms of COVID-19

For adults (18 years and older) who are not considered high-risk contacts, you must get a COVID-19 test for the following symptoms even if you are fully vaccinated.

If you have one or more of these symptoms and you choose not to be tested, you must self-isolate for 10 days.

• Fever and/or chills (Temperature of 37.8 degrees Celsius/100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher.)
• Cough or barking cough (croup) (Continuous, more than usual, making a whistling noise when breathing (not related to asthma, post-infectious reactive airways, COPD).)
• Shortness of breath (Out of breath, unable to breathe deeply (not related to asthma).)
• Decrease or loss of taste or smell (Not related to seasonal allergies, neurological disorders.)
• Muscle aches and pains (That is unexplained or unusual (not related to related to a sudden injury, fibromyalgia, or receiving a COVID-19 vaccine the past 48 hours).)
• Extreme tiredness, lack of energy or feeling unwell (That is unusual or unexpected (not related to depression, insomnia, thyroid dysfunction, or receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in the past 48 hours).

Other symptoms of COVID-19

The following symptoms require COVID-19 testing if you have been identified as a high-risk contact, even if you are fully vaccinated.

If you have one or more of these symptoms you must self-isolate (I.e., you must stay home except for medical emergencies or to seek COVID-19 testing) for at least 24 hours until symptoms are improving.

If you have not been identified as a high-risk contact, you are still eligible to be tested, but it is not required to return to work or school.

• Sore throat (Painful swallowing or difficulty swallowing (not related to seasonal allergies, acid reflux, post-nasal drip).)
• Runny or stuffy/congested nose (Not related to seasonal allergies, being outside in cold weather, chronic sinusitis unchanged from baseline.)
• Conjunctivitis (pink eye) (Not related to blepharitis, recurrent styes.)
• Decreased or lack of appetite (Not related to anxiety, constipation.)
• Abdominal pain (Persistent or ongoing (not related to menstrual cramps, gastroesophageal reflux disease)
• Headache (New and persistent, unusual, unexplained, or long-lasting (not related to tension-type headaches, chronic migraines, receiving a COVID-19 vaccine in the last 48 hours).)