Cars line up outside the Brooks community COVID-19 testing facility on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Alex McCuaig)

By Alex McCuaig

Community testing in Brooks

Nearly 1,200 tested for COVID-19 in Brooks on Monday with those numbers expected to continue

Apr 28, 2020 | 4:53 PM

BROOKS, AB – Vehicle after vehicle lined up into the five bays of what used to be a welding shop, guided by a plethora of health officials in what is now a drive-thru COVID-19 community testing facility in the city of Brooks.

Brooks has seen its positive COVID-19 case counts go from fewer than 30 two weeks ago to more than 600 on Tuesday. The city is also the epicentre of an outbreak which has seen Alberta Health Services’ South Zone – which also includes Medicine Hat and Lethbridge – go from the lowest per capita rate of infection in the province to the highest.

The response to the situation is currently playing out with the opening up of testing to asymptomatic individuals in the Brooks area for a three-day period that started on Monday and which will wrap up Wednesday.

During a press availability on Tuesday, Brooks Mayor Barry Morishita thanks AHS, local first responders and the community for setting up the testing facility in a short period of time.

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“I think it does speak to what is possible when we work together,” said Morishita of the drive-thru facility. “And to get the best possible outcomes, I think we have to continue to do that.”

But he also added the full response to the outbreak has yet to be seen.

“We’ve certainly have seen the explosion in numbers and that’s frightening and disconcerting for myself and the community,” said Morishita, adding improved communications, the new testing facility and the availability of isolation facilities to those who can’t do so at home are part of the ongoing response to the situation.

Morishita said he believes the actions taken at the JBS beef processing facility in the city – where at least 75 workers were identified as having contracted coronavirus – were adequate in the leadup to the outbreak.

“As a community, our job is to support the workers that live here to ensure their livelihood is met and that their safety is being taken care of,” said Morishita.

Katherine Chubbs, South Zone chief officer of health, said nearly 1,000 asymptomatic people came through the community testing facility with another 200 symptomatic individuals tested at the Brooks Health Centre on Monday alone. Numbers which she expects to be repeated in the days to come.

“Last week we were averaging just over 100 – I think 107 – on average per day,” said Chubbs of the level of increase in testing in the community. “We’re working with our various representatives across the city – people who speak different languages so we’re getting into populations might have been a bit harder to get into.”

As to why a city of 14,000 has become the centre of coronavirus cases in the South Zone, Chubbs said it’s hard to exactly determine why that is.

Bow River MP Martin Shields said the COVID-19 situation was something no one saw coming but is advocating as much testing as possible in the community.

“Test, test, test, identify, isolate. The more we do that, the better it is,” said Shields. “Let’s make sure we keep testing and getting it done.”

Both Shields and Morishita took the opportunity on Tuesday to take the COVID-19 test themselves.