Children over the age of three months who require COVID test to be swabbed at assessment centre

Sault Area Hospital announced that beginning today, all children over the age of three months, who require a COVID test, will be swabbed at the assessment centre. Full text of the release follows:

Beginning today (December 20, 2021), all children over the age of 3 months who require a COVID-19 test will be swabbed at the Assessment Centre. Previously, all children under the age of 2 were tested for COVID-19 through SAH’s Emergency Department.

Staff at the Assessment Centre are qualified to perform pediatric COVID-19 testing. This new process will decrease the volume of patients attending the Emergency Department and, the turnaround time for results will be approximately 12-24 hours through SAH’s laboratory.

COVID-19 test appointments can be booked online.

Testing for COVID-19 through the Assessment Centre is open to any individual 3 months of age or over who:

• does not have symptoms but are concerned they have been exposed to COVID-19

• does not have symptoms but are at risk of exposure to COVID-19

• has any symptoms consistent with COVID-19 (even mild ones)

• does not meet the above criteria but were referred for testing by a health care agency such as 9-1-1, Telehealth, Algoma Public Health, their primary care provider or Occupational health department

Children under the age of 3 months will continue to be swabbed through the hospital’s Emergency Department. As always, if your child is sick and needs to be evaluated by a physician, please contact their primary care provider or go to SAH’s Emergency Department.

SAH continues to make improvements to COVID-19 testing and is dedicated to ensuring the safety of all those we serve. More information is available on our website.