With the global COVID-19 pandemic dominating headlines, an increasing number of people in Ontario want to know whether they are infected with the new coronavirus.

First-line screening measures, including Telehealth Ontario and dedicated assessment centres, are seeing a spike in people asking about their flu-like symptoms, travel histories and wanting to know if they qualify for a COVID-19 laboratory test.

Telehealth Ontario, a provincial service that allows people to call and speak to a registered nurse about their health, is being inundated with calls, with some people reporting a more than 12-hour wait for assistance. And some Toronto-area dedicated COVID-19 assessment centres have seen a sharp rise in the number of people wanting to be tested for the virus in the past few days. Hospital emergency departments, too, have experienced an influx of patients asking to be tested.

“In the last week we’ve seen a huge surge of people asking to have a COVID-19 swab (test),” said Dr. Erin O’Connor, Deputy Medical Director of Emergency Departments at Toronto’s University Health Network. “While many were worried, many had no risk factors at all and did not meet testing criteria for swabs.”

People who have mild symptoms of an upper respiratory tract illness and who are otherwise healthy should stay at home and isolate from other people, she said, adding assessment centres have helped take the pressure off emergency rooms.

“The people who should be coming in to the emergency department are those with severe symptoms or with underlying complicated medical conditions.”

As of Saturday evening, the province had 24 new cases of COVID-19, the majority in southern Ontario, bringing the total to 103. As well, some 6,648 patients had been approved for testing, with 5,606 people testing negative for COVID-19; some 939 tests are still under investigation.

On Saturday, the federal government issued an extraordinary appeal for Canadians abroad, including the United States, to return home as more and more countries consider border closures and travel restrictions.

In Ontario, hospitals will start screening all patients and visitors to the institutions in the coming days as part of the province’s widespread “social distancing” measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. And starting Saturday, the province’s long-term care homes will only allow “essential visitors,” including those visiting critically ill or dying patients, as a way to safeguard at-risk residents from being exposed to the coronavirus.

These heightened efforts to protect public health have led to more people wanting to know whether they have COVID-19, sending some to already busy emergency departments and others waiting hours on the phone to speak with a nurse from Telehealth Ontario.

In January, Telehealth averaged about 1,900 calls a day, while in February it had about 1,600 daily calls. After the first 13 days in March, Telehealth is averaging 2,800 calls a day and “total call volume continues to see an upward trend,” according to a spokesperson for the province’s Ministry of Health.

The province has committed to providing more resources to Telehealth to reduce wait times, and has created a billing code to allow Ontario physicians to speak to concerned patients about COVID-19 over the phone.

But it will be Ontario’s expected rollout of an online COVID-19 assessment tool for people to self-screen at home that will go the farthest in alleviating people’s concerns and easing pressures on the health-care system, said Dr. David Kaplan, a family physician at North York General Hospital.

“This will help wide swaths of the population that have concerns but who are not significantly ill and don’t need clinical assessment,” said Kaplan, an associate professor of family and community medicine at the University of Toronto. “Even if they have COVID-19, but are asymptomatic or have minor symptoms, such as a cough but no fever, are under 60, have no comorbidities (underlying health conditions), they can just self-isolate and stay at home.”

The province, which has not confirmed a date when its online COVID-19 assessment tool will be available, is also planning for an at-home COVID-19 test kit to help people who have mild symptoms manage their care at home.

Alberta Health Services launched its online COVID-19 assessment late afternoon Friday. In less than 24 hours, it had been accessed more than 300,000 times, a spokesperson for the health service said.

Virginia Johnson would have liked such a tool this week after developing a fever and sore throat several days after she returned home to Toronto after a work trip to California.

The morning after she experienced flu-like symptoms, Johnson called Telehealth Ontario and, after a 37-minute wait to speak with an attendant, was told it would be 13 hours before she could get a callback from a nurse. That call would have come at 3 a.m. — with no way to delay until the morning.

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“I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed in bed but I had this big question: What do I do?” said Johnson, a textile artist and mother of two whose parents are over 70 with underlying health conditions. “I wanted to keep my family safe and, if I needed to, let all the people I’d seen know they may also be at risk.”

Because she knew California had many COVID-19 cases, Johnson stayed in the bedroom of her family home, away from her husband and children, in case she had the virus.

On Friday, even though she was feeling better, Johnson went to Toronto Western Hospital’s emergency department to be tested for COVID-19.

“Because I’m feeling better, normally I would re-enter back into my regular life. But if I have it (COVID-19), then I would let people know, and stay at home, and not visit my parents … This is why I think it’s really important to nail down how many people have it (the virus).”

After a three-hour wait in a specialized waiting area isolated within Toronto Western’s emergency department, Johnson was asked questions about her travel history and the progression of her flu-like symptoms before a nurse did a nasal swab to test for COVID-19.

Johnson is currently back in her Toronto home, isolating herself in a bedroom and awaiting a call from Toronto Public Health to find out if she has the virus. Johnson was told she’d have results within 24 to 48 hours.

While she has no complaints about the testing process, Johnson is concerned that a dozen people at a time were crowded into the hospital’s isolated waiting area. She knows COVID-19 assessment centres are being rolled out in the GTA but wonders if the measures are being implemented fast enough.

“I hope it happens quickly. There is no way the system can handle more than this.”

North York General Hospital opened its stand-alone COVID-19 assessment centre on Wednesday night. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the centre saw more than 200 people come for coronavirus screening on its first day.

Dr. Joshua Tepper, a family physician and the hospital’s CEO and President, said it’s crucial people understand not everyone who goes to an assessment centre will be tested for COVID-19. There is specific criteria to administer tests, which are evaluated continually and updated as needed, he said.

“The analogy I like to use is: Not everyone who goes to their doctor with a sore throat will get antibiotics, and not everyone who has a sore knee will get an MRI ... We’ll be swabbing (testing for COVID-19) according to public health guidelines, a patient’s symptoms, and their travel and contact history.

“Just like any other part of our health-care system, we’ll ask you to share your history, and based on that evidence, we will make the right decision.”

Tepper said staff at Ontario hospitals and assessment centres use the same COVID-19 screening and testing protocols and he advises people not go to multiple assessment centres in search of one that will administer a test if health-care workers determine one is not needed.

The province is rolling out COVID-19 assessment centres in North York, Scarborough, Richmond Hill, Brampton, Mississauga and Ottawa. Among Toronto-area hospitals, Women’s College Hospital opened its dedicated COVID-19 assessment centre Saturday, while Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill will open its centre on Monday afternoon.

At Michael Garron Hospital (formerly Toronto East General Hospital), the number of people wanting to be screened for COVID-19 has increased daily. A week ago, the hospital screened between five and 10 people a day for COVID-19. On Friday, the hospital saw 90 patients wanting COVID-19 screening, including 57 in its dedicated assessment centre, which is open by appointment only.

“It’s understandable to have this anxiety in the community,” said Mark Fam, the hospital’s vice president of clinical programs. “We’re hearing people are happy to have this additional space and rapid access to screening.”