Ontario Is Getting A Holiday COVID-19 Testing 'Blitz' & You Can Get Tested At Xmas Markets

The Ontario government is ramping up its COVID-19 testing for asymptomatic residents over the winter, and some of its pop-up locations are a little more festive than usual.

"We will be launching a pop-up blitz in higher-traffic public settings, such as malls or holiday markets, to provide testing to individuals without symptoms as well as to provide vaccine education," Ontario's minister of health, Christine Elliott, said in a news conference on November 18. "These sites will be announced in the coming weeks."

According to the provincial government, these asymptomatic testing sites will be starting up by mid-December in several varying settings throughout Ontario. They will choose where to put these testing centres based on an analysis of hot-spot zones across the province.

This testing "blitz" is part of Ontario's efforts to provide new testing options as the province moves into winter, when more Ontarians will be making plans with their loved ones indoors.

On November 12, Ontario's Science Advisory Table put out its projections for how the COVID-19 situation will look in the province during the cold winter months, and they recommend putting a pause on lifting any more capacity limits in order to curb a rise in cases across the province.

Four health regions across Ontario have already announced they are reinstating some of their public health measures due to the worsening spread of COVID-19 in their communities.

COVID-19 can still become endemic in Ontario, and according to the scientific director of the Science Advisory Table, Dr. Peter Jüni, it could very well come by the spring, but we first have to get through the long winter ahead.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.