The idea of testing every Niagara resident for COVID-19 is being floated around.
A presentation was made at the Public Health and Social Services Committee meeting by two Niagara residents with a plan to expand testing in the region.
Tim Curtis and Jim Ryan crafted a plan that would include creating a processing lab in Niagara for COVID-19 tests, and testing up to 5000 residents a day in order to keep track of the virus.
The plan's goal is to have all Niagara residents tested within 100 days.
In a vote of 14 to 1, the committee voted to explore the idea of a publicly run licensed lab in Niagara in order to expand testing. (Story continues below)
Niagara's Acting Medical Officer of Health Mustafa Hirji tells CKTB he doesn't support testing every resident.
He says there would be lots of false positive cases since no test is perfect, and a test is a point in time, and won't be able to identify if a person is still contagious with an active virus.
When it comes to hosting a lab to test residents locally, Hirji thinks it possible and a positive idea since cases will likely increase as the economy opens up.
Ontario has a goal of performing 16,000 tests a day.