Northwest Toronto MPPs say Ford must fund faster local testing for COVID-19

Residents in the northwest corner waiting two weeks and more for test results, despite symptoms

YORK SOUTH—WESTON — Northwest Toronto NDP MPPs Faisal Hassan (York South—Weston) and Tom Rakocevic (Humber River—Black Creek) urged the Ford government to commit to funding faster testing in Toronto's northwest corner, where COVID-19 rates are disproportionately high, yet residents are waiting up to two weeks for test results.

The MPPs held a virtual press conference Friday to address the delays, joined by three residents who shared their experiences of weeks-long waits for results, despite having had known exposure to someone with COVID-19, or symptoms.

"My commmunity of York South-Weston is home to many frontline workers in this pandemic. They are the grocery store workers and the personal support workers taking care of our seniors. Many do not have the luxury to work from home, nor do they have paid sick days," said Hassan. "For months, we begged the Ford government to secure a local testing site, so folks in a hotspot wouldn't have to travel across the city." said Hassan. "Since the local testing site at Humber River Hospital opened, I have received dozens of complaints from residents forced to wait up to and beyond two weeks for results."

Though Toronto Public health data shows eight of 10 neighbourhoods with the highest percentage of COVID-19 positivity rates — some 10 per cent or higher — in the city's northwest corner, these communities have below-average testing rates.

A new report in the Globe and Mail shows that Ontario is using an antiquated public health labaratory system, leading to lengthy turnaround times for COVID-19 test results. Labs in Ontario have been asking the government to invest in modernizing the system for decades.

"Liberal and Conservative governments have underfunded our public health lab system. The Ford government further cut public health funding before the pandemic," said Rakocevic. "My office has been pushing for local mobile testing and community liasions to help spread information about local testing in multiple languages. Ford needs to act now to fix the glaring inequity we are seeing in COVID-19 resources in this city, and to stop neighbourhoods like ours falling further behind."