Media Release
WRHA announces opening of new pop-up testing site
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
Thursday, July 23, 2020
A new pop-up site for COVID-19 testing has been opened in Winnipeg, in order to accommodate a surge of public demand for testing which has resulted in a third consecutive day of record testing numbers.
The site is located at the WRHA's Access Fort Garry centre, at 135 Plaza Dr. in south Winnipeg. The site opened to the public at 10 am today (July 23) and will be open until 6 pm today. The site will be open 9 am to 4 pm, starting tomorrow (July 24) and continuing seven days per week.
Winnipeg's three other community testing sites - Thunderbird House, St. James Centennial Pool, and MPI Main Street - together completed 605 tests on July 22, representing a record number of tests for the third day this week.
"We would like to extend a tremendous thanks to the testing site staff who have done outstanding work to manage this unprecedented and unanticipated surge over the past several days," said Gina Trinidad, WRHA Chief Health Operations Officer. "We would also like to assure Winnipeggers that we are working as quickly as possible to action further contingency plans to manage this current surge, and ensuring preparedness for any eventuality, including sustained demand now and into the fall and winter months."
Those plans include today's opening of the new walk-up site at Access Fort Garry. No appointment is necessary and the site is open to anyone who is eligible for testing. The site began testing this morning.
The testing site located in the MPI building on Main Street will once again remain open until 7 pm tonight to accommodate public demand.
The last day of operation for the site located at the St. James Centennial Pool will be Sunday, July 26, when it will be open 9 am to 4 pm. The site will be replaced the following day by a new site opening at 604 St. Mary's Road. That site will be open 9 am to 4 pm, seven days a week, and will have the same testing capacity as the St. James site.
"We would like to thank our partners in the community, including MPI and the City of Winnipeg, for working with us to establish community testing centres in our city," Trinidad said. "We would also like to thank Winnipeggers for their patience over these past few days."
The WRHA would like to remind the public to please bring original ID documents, preferably your Manitoba Health card, whenever possible, when attending for COVID-19 testing.
For more information, please contact:
WRHA media relations
[email protected]