COVID-19 TESTING
Work, volunteer or live in a position in which you're more likely to be exposed to COVID? Live with others who are not your immediate family and share living space with them? You now have the option to be tested for COVID-19.
**You should NOT follow the path described on this page if you have symptoms of COVID or if you have been in close contact with a patient who is known to be COVID positive . You should contact the Red Lake COVID Line at 727-7035 Mon - Fri 9am-12pm**
Expanded testing for COVID is intended to identify new cases and, through contact tracing and isolation support, reduce the spread of this virus.
1. What is the test? This is a test to look for genetic material (RNA) of the COVID19 virus. Identifying positive patients and limiting their exposure to others will reduce spread.
2. No test is perfect. There is a chance that result is incorrect; for example, a negative test result may be wrong and the patient actually has COVID. This can happen if a patient inadvertently came in contact with COVID virus too recently to detect it yet or the swab didn’t sample the right cells.
3. This test is a snapshot in time. It doesn’t tell us if you may have contracted COVID several weeks ago (and are now clear) or guarantee you won’t develop COVID symptoms tomorrow if you are symptom free today.
4. Because it’s imperfect, a negative test result does not mean you can disregard any public health recommendations about social distancing or other measures recommended to you directly by our clinic or public health.
5. Results of the test (and some relevant history) will go to the public health unit.
6. A positive result, at least until June 30, will be accessible by fire, police and ambulance in Ontario
7. A positive test result will require immediate quarantine for 14 days. The Public Health unit will contact you to trace your close contacts and all of your close contacts will also be advised to self-isolate for 14 days.
8. The swab is taken by a swab deep in both sides of your nose. There is a generally transient discomfort and a very small risk of swab breakage.
9. There is also a risk of minimal bleeding.
10.If you develop new or worsening symptoms that concern you, you can contact the COVID Centre again 727-7035, Sunday-Thursday 9AM-2PM or your clinic or emergency room as appropriate
11.If you have general questions about COVID, self-isolation guidelines or other issues, you can contact your local Northwestern Health Unit or call the NWHU COVID hotline at 866-468-2240
If you have read the information above about COVID, consent and the testing process and, if you wish to book a test, email us at CovidWorkTest@redlakehospital.ca with the following details
You will receive an "autoreply" to your email to CovidWorkTest@redlakehospital.ca. Please review the content of the autoreply for details about how to have an efficient COVID-19 swab visit with us.
**While we do our best to maintain privacy/confidentiality, email and text are not secure methods of communication. Please be mindful of this in communicating with us. If you do not wish to correspond by email, you can phone the Red Lake COVID line at 727-7035, but call volumes are unpredictable and it may take some time to connect.
**You should NOT follow the path described on this page if you have symptoms of COVID or if you have been in close contact with a patient who is known to be COVID positive . You should contact the Red Lake COVID Line at 727-7035 Mon - Fri 9am-12pm**
Expanded testing for COVID is intended to identify new cases and, through contact tracing and isolation support, reduce the spread of this virus.
1. What is the test? This is a test to look for genetic material (RNA) of the COVID19 virus. Identifying positive patients and limiting their exposure to others will reduce spread.
2. No test is perfect. There is a chance that result is incorrect; for example, a negative test result may be wrong and the patient actually has COVID. This can happen if a patient inadvertently came in contact with COVID virus too recently to detect it yet or the swab didn’t sample the right cells.
3. This test is a snapshot in time. It doesn’t tell us if you may have contracted COVID several weeks ago (and are now clear) or guarantee you won’t develop COVID symptoms tomorrow if you are symptom free today.
4. Because it’s imperfect, a negative test result does not mean you can disregard any public health recommendations about social distancing or other measures recommended to you directly by our clinic or public health.
5. Results of the test (and some relevant history) will go to the public health unit.
6. A positive result, at least until June 30, will be accessible by fire, police and ambulance in Ontario
7. A positive test result will require immediate quarantine for 14 days. The Public Health unit will contact you to trace your close contacts and all of your close contacts will also be advised to self-isolate for 14 days.
8. The swab is taken by a swab deep in both sides of your nose. There is a generally transient discomfort and a very small risk of swab breakage.
9. There is also a risk of minimal bleeding.
10.If you develop new or worsening symptoms that concern you, you can contact the COVID Centre again 727-7035, Sunday-Thursday 9AM-2PM or your clinic or emergency room as appropriate
11.If you have general questions about COVID, self-isolation guidelines or other issues, you can contact your local Northwestern Health Unit or call the NWHU COVID hotline at 866-468-2240
If you have read the information above about COVID, consent and the testing process and, if you wish to book a test, email us at CovidWorkTest@redlakehospital.ca with the following details
- your full name
- your preferred phone number
- your employer/building name
- indicate that you have read the consent/information and agree to testing
- indicate if you consent to us texting you, if we are able to
You will receive an "autoreply" to your email to CovidWorkTest@redlakehospital.ca. Please review the content of the autoreply for details about how to have an efficient COVID-19 swab visit with us.
**While we do our best to maintain privacy/confidentiality, email and text are not secure methods of communication. Please be mindful of this in communicating with us. If you do not wish to correspond by email, you can phone the Red Lake COVID line at 727-7035, but call volumes are unpredictable and it may take some time to connect.
