Thousands of people have had to wait up to five hours in a line in the cold to be tested for COVID-19, or even face a refusal from several centers for lack of capacity.
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Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin
On Tuesday, there was a 168-minute line at the Villeray and Petite-Patrie screening center.
“It took me 4:15,” said Robert Mayrand, 51, passed out of the screening center at Douglas Hospital in Montreal.
The establishment was stormed Tuesday morning, when a monster queue of nearly half a kilometer stretched out at the entrance to the site. At around 11:45 a.m., it numbered nearly 300 people. “I do my daily walk here and I’ve never seen so many people,” said a passerby.
Robert Mayrand came from Sorel in Montérégie to undergo a test, since there was no offer of walk-in screening in his region.
No appointment
“I was not able to have an appointment in Montérégie before December 26,” he specifies. It’s too long to wait four hours. If we had a “walk-in” distributed across the regions, it would be more efficient. “
“There are people who are outside with their children who are already sick and it is really no longer acceptable,” thinks Rebecca Slyom, who has come to bring coffee to a co-worker in the line.
Photo Chantal Poirier
A lady brought her camping chair to wait in line at the Chauveau clinic.
“If it had been easier to have quick tests, maybe there would be fewer lines,” thinks Mike, also a Douglas cross.
Some have confided to Newspaper having waited more than five hours. This is also the time that many had to wait for Tuesday at the Chauveau screening center, in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district, according to our information.
Photo Chantal Poirier
Rapid tests were distributed to the Chauveau clinic to reduce the queue.
Complete clinics
There were so many people that several clinics on the island of Montreal had to be full by morning. At the Douglas Hospital, it was at 12:25 p.m. that dozens of people left empty-handed. “We are full! An employee shouted from the line of people.
Photo Chantal Poirier
The screening center at Douglas Hospital was full shortly after noon on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Health and Social Services specified in Newspaper that the maximum daily screening capacity would be maintained at nearly 50,000 tests and that it “is not in its short-term plans to open screening centers or to hire massively” for this service.
Photo QMI Agency, Joël Lemay
– With the QMI Agency