BARRIE -- The Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre will keep its COVID-19 testing clinic open later on weekends to handle increase demand.
"We are experiencing wait times of up to three hours for same-day patients," says Stella Johnson, Director of Emergency Department Operations at RVH.
RVH will see its drive-thru testing extended on the weekends by four hours.
"We are going to maintain an 8 p.m closing time, but we are looking at eight to eight for seven day a week testing in order to respond to this increased need for testing."
From just this past Friday to Sunday, more than 900 people were swabbed, up from 618 last weekend.
Soldier's Memorial Hospital in Orillia is monitoring traffic to see if they need to adjust.
Alliston’s Stevenson Memorial Hospital’s assessment centre had been running three days a week from 8 a.m.-12 p.m. On Monday, the hospital extended hours until 4 p.m.
"We're having upwards of six people in a car coming," says Jody Levac, President and CEO of Stevenson Memorial Hospital.
"It slows down the ability to effectively swab everybody and get the administration done and move them along in a timely manner."
Hospitals are reporting an increase in entirely households showing up to be tested.
It's a pattern RVH sees as well, where one or two family members are asked by their workplace, school or daycare to get a test after showing symptoms, especially a runny nose.
"If their families don't all come together and we can bring just the symptomatic individual, hopefully, that can alleviate (wait times)," says Johnson.
RVH won't turn anyone anyway but says whether you need to be tested should be based on risk
To keep people comfortable in line, RVH plans to add portable toilets in the next few days. They're also exploring adding other testing sites as demand rises and the temperature drops.
