The Oakridge Arena COVID-19 Assessment Centre’s hours of operation are changing this week. The Assessment Centre will no longer be open weekends but will continue to offer assessment services Monday to Friday from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The COVID-19 Assessment Centre at Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre (CHOCC), located at 656 Elizabeth Street in London, will remain open seven days a week from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

“The decision to go with Monday to Friday service at the Oakridge Assessment Centre is to align with the change we’ve seen in both the volume and timing of visits to the centre,” says Dr. Alex Summers, Associate Medical Officer of Health with the Middlesex-London Health Unit. “It also allows us to use our staff, physical resources, and personal protective equipment as wisely as we can. While this change is being made now, we will still have the option of scaling up should the demand reflect that need.”

The COVID-19 Assessment Centres, operated by the London Health Sciences Centre, St. Joseph’s Health Care London, the Thames Valley Family Health Team, the Middlesex-London EMS, the Middlesex-London Health Unit and the City of London, have seen hundreds of patients, which has helped to alleviate the number of visits to local Emergency Departments and the Urgent Care Centre. Assessment Centres are intended to educate and provide further guidance, as well as to triage individuals and determine the next steps in their care.

Most people who attend Assessment Centres will not require or receive a COVID-19 test. Tests will be done based on clinical criteria. There will be no medication or treatment onsite at the COVID-19 Assessment Centres.

The Health Unit and its partners recommend the following:

• Use the online self-assessment tool at: https://lmcovid19.inputhealth.com
• Call Telehealth at 1-866-797-0000 for a telephone assessment if you have symptoms that include fever and/or cough AND any of the following within 14 days prior to the onset of illness:
  
  - Travel outside of Canada
  - Close contact with a confirmed or probable case
  - Close contact with a person with Acute Respiratory Illness, who has been to an affected area
  
  
• If you are not able to assess your symptoms, consider visiting a COVID-19 Assessment Centre for further information.

Anyone with severe respiratory illness, or a medical emergency should go to hospital. Signs of severe respiratory illness include:

• Shortness of breath/unable to catch your breath
• Severe fever that does not come down with Tylenol/acetaminophen
• Energy so low that you are physically unable to get out of bed or barely able and must rest again immediately

Media Contact:
Elizabeth Milne, Communications Coordinator, Middlesex-London Health Unit,
519-617-0564

Spokesperson:
Dr. Alex Summers, Associate Medical Officer of Health, Middlesex-London Health Unit