University Hospital of Northern B.C. in Prince George is now able to test samples taken from individuals showing symptoms of COVID-19, Northern Health CEO Cathy Ulrich said Wednesday night during a virtual town hall on Facebook and YouTube.
The testing started this week, she said, to help lower the response time from tests taken of area residents. Previously, samples taken in Prince George were being transported by air to labs in Vancouver.
The virtual town hall was hosted by Mike Bernier, Liberal MLA for Peace River South, and Doug Donaldson, NDP MLA for Stikine and the forests minister in the NDP government. About 800 people tuned into the hour-long question and answer segment.
Along with the reduced time to test samples, the ability to do more testing has also increased.
“We have the capacity now to broaden our testing capacity,” Dr. Raina Fumerton, Northern Health’s acting chief medical health officer, explained. “That wasn’t the case previously. Health care providers can order testing based on their clinical judgment.”
Many people following the livestream on Facebook wanted to know whether Northern Health has enough personal protective equipment for health-care workers in its facilities across the region.
“Right now, Northern Health does have enough PPE,” Ulrich said when the question was posed later in the broadcast. “It’s a very vulnerable supply chain and we’re worrying about it moment to moment.”
Several individuals in the comments feed questioned if that was really the case, pointing to an Alaska Highway News story published Tuesday about a call out to the public from the Fort St. John Hospital Foundation for facemasks for frontline health-care workers.
As the weather improves and temperatures rise this spring, more people want to get outside and that’s OK, Fumerton stressed, as long as people are staying safe.
“I get that it can be confusing between an order and a recommendation. There have been no provincial or federal orders to stay home... in a lockdown,” she said. “The expectation is that there will never be 100 per cent compliance. People need to get out and get groceries. By and large, people across the North are taking this seriously and we’re doing a good job flattening the curve.”
