Sudbury doctor slams COVID-19 testing wait times

A family doctor in Sudbury is frustrated with the system set up to screen people for COVID-19.

Dr. Julie Connolly says she saw a patient, woman in her 70s, who had the three symptoms of COVID-19 fever, shortness of breath, and a cough.

The woman was very sick and eventually admitted to Health Sciences North, Connolly said.

While Connolly urged the hospital to test the patient for COVID-19, she was told she didn't meet the criteria because she hadn't travelled.

When the patient was eventually tested, Connolly said that the wait time to get results was too long.

"I called the hospital on Monday," Connolly said. "My patient had been discharged Sunday, the swab result was still pending, and I was told then to contact someone in the infectious disease department at the hospital."

She could only leave a message for the infectious diseases department, and only heard back from them on Tuesday.

"That message stat[ed] that that result might not be available till Wednesday or Thursday and that even when it was available, I, as her community family physician would not be told what the result was."

"I'd either have to call the main line at Public Health to find out, or call the patient herself."

Connolly cancelled her own family trip for March Break, not knowing whether or not this patient was infected with COVID-19.

"My [other] concern is my office is potentially a hotspot for viral shedding and viral transmission," she said. "Particularly when I'm actually seeing patients that meet the criteria."

Dr. Penny Sutcliffe, Medical Officer of Health for Public Health Sudbury and Districts, confirmed that not every patient would be getting tested for the virus immediately.

"So I understand that this can be frustrating," Sutcliffe said. "As we've been focusing on containment and trying to understand when the virus could come into our community or have community spread."

Sutcliffe said at this point, the criteria for getting tested includes having travelled, or being in contact with someone who has the virus.

She added that in an "ideal world" they would be testing more people, more frequently.

"There is not the capacity in the system right now to be able to do that," she said. "And I don't anticipate that there will be."

She also said that screening is done by Health Sciences North at their assessment site, not by the health unit, and that the patient in question was admitted to hospital before the site was set up.