‘We are a straw house right now with a tornado’: Labs struggle with COVID-19 testing surge

The association representing lab workers across the province says it cannot keep up with the increase in demand for COVID-19 tests amid a sharp spike in Omicron cases, and is warning the current surge is delaying the processing of cancer and other important medical tests.

“We are a straw house right now with a tornado that is just blowing through,” said Michelle Hoad, CEO of the Medical Laboratory Professionals’ Association of Ontario. “We’re starting to see turnaround times for regular testing being affected. So that means cancer results, results on infection – those results are now being delayed because of currently what is happening in the pandemic.”

She told CityNews labs are so understaffed they only have the capacity to process about 50,000 tests per day. The impact of that, Hoad said, could be potentially devastating, with some hospitals already reporting delays in cancer test results.

“That is scary because we want people to make sure that they’re treated when they need to be treated.”

Ottawa Public Health was the first to sound the alarm. It has taken the extraordinary step of telling people who cannot get a timely PCR test to assume they’re infected with Omicron and their household should self isolate for 10 days.

Ontario Health told CityNews in a statement that results from 90 per cent of PCR tests are being delivered within two days, but acknowledged some assessment centres, pharmacies and community labs are experiencing pressures.

“There is additional lab capacity at this time, however test turnaround times are likely to increase as volumes increase,” the statement read. “We are working with them to increase capacity however, as (Chief Medical Officer of Health) Dr. Moore noted last week, PCR tests are prioritized for those with active symptoms and especially for those in congregate settings.”