‘Extraordinary demand’: Barrie’s RVH drive-thru COVID-19 testing clinic only takes pre-booked appointments now

The early bird may get the COVID-19 swab at Barrie’s Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) drive-thru testing clinic.

RVH has stopped unscheduled testing at the new site — moving instead to a same- and future-day booking system.

Clinic hours remain 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days per week, with the same-day online appointment portal opening at 6 a.m. daily. RVH says it keeps about 400 same-day slots open each morning — 300 online and 100 by phone reservation.

The portal will close when all available time slots for that day are full.

Ontario’s new guidelines aim to improve turnaround times and prioritize testing for those at greatest risk, RVH spokesperson Liz Ferguson said.

“RVH was already providing pre-booked appointments through online and phone booking,” she said. “To ensure we can continue to meet the extraordinary demand for testing, we have created a same-day appointment booking option. Moving to an appointment-based system only will help people avoid long waits during this time of year when the weather is so unpredictable. Pre-booking appointments is a convenient way for people to ensure they are tested and receive their results in a timely fashion.”

Simcoe.com visited the online booking site Monday afternoon, and it shows there are no future appointments available until Wednesday after 5 p.m.

In November, the Sperling Drive clinic will become a full COVID-19 assessment centre. People with symptoms that require investigation beyond a COVID-19 test can be seen inside Sperling by a team of clinicians.

People should only seek testing at an assessment centre if they have symptoms, were notified of exposure to a confirmed case by the health unit or COVID Alert app, live or work in an outbreak setting, travelled or are in a high-risk demographic.

The Sperling building was used as the city’s police headquarters until earlier this year, when the department moved into the new Barrie-Simcoe Emergency Services Campus on . 

Sperling clinic appointments can be booked at , or by calling  between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.