To some, getting a COVID-19 test ahead of the holiday season may give them a sense of comfort before breaking public health guidelines to see their loved ones.
But the co-lead for Lakeridge Heath's testing centres in Durham region says, people with this mindset are going to be causing problems for healthcare workers, and the public.
Dr. Joel Kennedy says the sites in Durham Region are reporting an additional 1,000 people a week seeking tests this month. Assessment centres, like the ones in Pickering and Oshawa, are only available to people who are symptomatic.
So Kennedy has a message for anyone considering perhaps lying about having symptoms just so they can get a test.
"We have to remember that that test is a point in time, you're testing at that moment, but all of the stuff we've been doing are all part of our civic duty," Kennedy says. "Part of that is not getting tested inappropriately, so that someone else can be tested.
"You can imagine if someone who's symptomatic can't get tested because a number of people who don't need to be tested take up a slot, then potentially that person can infect more people while they're waiting."
This also comes as holiday hours start to be implemented at testing centres across the province and in Durham. This isn't new, Kennedy says, hours have been adjusted and centres have been closed for statutory holidays.
But given the time of year and how high the case counts are, Kennedy says they are preparing for some surges over the next couple of days, and in the days following Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
"We're already seeing a rise in testing. Steadily in December, we've had an increase of about 1,000 test requests a week, so we've responded with increasing hours and centres trying to see more people than they were prior," Kennedy says.
Not only is Lakeridge Health dealing with an increase in people seeking tests, Kennedy says they're also having to take on COVID-19 patients from Scarborough, since that area is running out of hospital and ICU capacity.
"We are seeing some of their patients now," Kennedy says. "We've had trouble with capacity for quite a while now, but the Greater Toronto teams all work together to help each other out.
"What we are close to running the risk of is ICU capacity, so we have plans to expand our ICU if needed."