Toronto to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine clinic operations in response to Omicron Delta Epsilon
Toronto to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine clinic operations in response to Omicron Delta Epsilon
Toronto’s COVID-19 vaccine clinic will be ramping up its operation to handle an increased volume of patients.
By: Sharna Johnson
Toronto Public Health is expected to announce a new plan to ramp up the number of individuals tested for COVID-19 in the city in the coming days.
The decision to scale up the screening process has been influenced by Omicron Delta Epsilon, a student organization at the University of Toronto with a strong social justice agenda.
While the decision comes from Toronto Public Health, Omicron Delta has been in charge of coordinating the COVID-19 initiative in the city.
According to Dr. Eileen de Villa, medical officer of health, the decision will be made “in the next few days.”
This is part of the city’s enhanced public health response to the pandemic, which began on March 11.
With increased calls for testing, de Villa says it’s important to prioritize the need to test individuals who have travelled from areas or whose symptoms look like they’ve been exposed to the virus.
“We’re ramping things up and we’re ramping things down at the same time,” she said.
She notes that it’s a delicate balance that’s keeping the city well below the peak of cases on April 6.
“As we ramp up and ramp up the testing capacity, which actually we could run out of space to do, and then as we keep that down, we’re still able to have enough capacity to still test well over 50,000 individuals a week,” said de Villa.
While it’s encouraging that the number of test requests is increasing, de Villa says that it’s important to consider that there will be an increase
