A new COVID-19 assessment centre is being opened in Sarnia as the province moves to testing by appointment only.
Beginning Monday, October 5, Rapids Family Health Team will offer assessments for symptomatic individuals, by appointment, at its Pontiac Drive location Monday to Friday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Bluewater Health said Friday that it's working with Lambton Public Health and its community partners to streamline the availability of testing in Sarnia-Lambton.
Chief, Communications & Public Affairs, Julia Oosterman said this weekend's walk-in clinic in Sarnia will be the last one without appointment.
"It was at one point that people could just go and get tested, wherever they wanted to get tested, and now the idea is there's a very specific criteria to be tested if you have school-aged children, where your school-aged children get tested," said Oosterman. "There's a specific criteria for those who are showing symptoms or who have been exposed to individuals who have COVID-19, and the third stream is the asymptomatic testing and we're very lucky that we have two pharmacies in our area which do asymptomatic testing."
Oosterman said the health ministry has updated eligibility guidelines as flu and cold season approaches and we enter a second wave of COVID.
"The main principle for doing this, is that it's really important that the people who need to be tested the most, are getting tested and are getting tested quickly and are getting their test results back quickly'" she said.
Full details about the new COVID-19 assessment process can be seen here.
The Doug Ford government also announced Friday that it's making masks mandatory in public indoor spaces across the province, and is tightening restrictions on businesses in virus hotspots like Toronto, Peel Region and Ottawa.
-With files from Colin Gowdy