Following the announcement of the region’s first three cases of the novel coronavirus, KFL&A Public Health said they’d be aiming to move Kingston’s COVID-19 assessment centre to the Memorial Centre.

In a tweet sent out Tuesday, Mayor Bryan Paterson confirmed the move, saying they were hoping to get the new assessment centre open by the weekend.

Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer of health for the Kingston region, said they are hoping to have the new, much larger assessment centre open by Saturday, but plans may change.

Kingston’s first novel coronavirus assessment centre opened last Saturday, at Hotel Dieu Hospital’s St. Joseph’s building.

Moore said the St. Joseph’s building simply isn’t offering the kind of space needed to assess the volume of people who have been visiting.

“We’re monitoring on a daily basis, but we think the physical size of it that’s available to us is too small,” Moore told Global News Wednesday. He added that the goal is to keep people from gathering in large groups, and to be tested efficiently — he believes the Memorial Centre will better allow health professionals to meet those goals during assessments and testing.

Although everyone who comes to the new centre will be assessed, not all will be tested, Moore said.

“We’re trying to keep the tests to those that are most at risk and or those that appear to us at this time to be the sickest, to ensure that we’re able to provide them with the right care and management.”

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