Mobile COVID-19 Testing Clinics arrive in Montreal’s Hardest Hit Borough

The test takes about seven minutes and two to three patients can be test at the same time.

The city’s mobile COVID-19 screening clinics arrive today in the deadly virus hard-hit borough of Montreal North.

As Quebec sets a target of 14,000 coronavirus tests per day, city heath officials plan on using the five mobile testing stations in retrofitted STM city buses around the city hotspots to make it easier for people to be tested.

The screening clinics on wheels started operation in early May, in the borough of Verdun, and are accessible on a walk-in basis with priority given to residents of that neighbourhood.

A Medicare card is not needed, but coronavirus symptoms or close contact with a COVID-19 infected individual and masks are requirements.

The test takes about seven minutes and two to three patients can be test at the same time, for a total of over 200 tests per day, though currently, the mobile stations are averaging about half their maximum.

The Santé Montréal website provides information on where and when to find the mobile testing clinics.

The mobile screening clinics will remain open for two days, Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the parking lot of the Aréna Garon, 11 212, Garon Av., Montréal-Nord, according to the regional health agency.