Middlesex County residents won't have to make the drive into London for a COVID-19 test.
The Middlesex London Paramedic Service (MLPS) has announced it's bringing its mobile COVID-19 swabbing unit to six towns through the region over the next two weeks. The decommissioned London Transit bus turned mobile testing facility will make stops in Dorchester, Lucan, Thorndale, Strathroy, Komoka and Ilderton starting Wednesday.
"The goal of our MLPS community swabbing site is really to complement the ongoing and current COVID-19 assessment centres in London and try to get to community members that might have difficulty accessing those sites," said Miranda Bothwell, public education coordinator for Middlesex London Paramedic Service. "Last week in Strathroy was our first pop-up swabbing centre and we had a great response. We reached our capacity about a half an hour before our scheduled time."
The addition of the mobile swabbing site by local paramedics comes as London's two assessment centres at Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre and Oakridge Arena have been inundated by those seeking tests every day for the past two weeks. On Tuesday, both sites had reached capacity before 11 a.m., leaving many in need of a test out of luck.
The MLPS community swabbing unit is open to everyone, regardless of where they live. However, only those who fit the current testing guidelines laid out by the province will be swabbed. That includes those with COVID-19 symptoms, anyone who has been in contact with an infected individual or who needs a test to visit a long-term care home or return to school.
"Our capacity is more limited than other sites because our goal is to complement and not overwhelm current lab processing times," said Bothwell. "So every day, every site might have a different capacity, but we will try to do as many swabs as we possibly can in the scheduled timeframe."
The mobile unit is staffed by paramedics who have been specially trained on how to administer COVID-19 tests. Prior to launching the mobile site, those paramedics were stationed in local assessment centres to assist with test processing and swabbing.
The full list of locations and dates for the mobile swabbing unit is as follows:
Wednesday, September 30 – Dorchester FlightExec Centre 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Thursday, October 1 – Lucan Community Centre 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Friday, October 2 – Thorndale Fair Grounds 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday, October 5 – Strathroy Gemini Arena 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Wednesday, October 7 – Komoka Wellness Centre 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Friday, October 9 – Ilderton Arena Grounds 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
