The United Counties of Prescott-Russell (UCPR) set up six childcare centres spread across the two counties to serve parents who work in health care and other designated “essential services” jobs and may not be able to stay at home with their children during the current pandemic.

Paramedics with the UCPR emergency services department spent the week prior to the May long weekend going around to four of the six centres and doing tests of the staff at those sites as a precautionary measure under the Eastern Ontario Health Unit’s protocol for essential service workers.

All of the test results came back negative for any signs of COVID-19 infection among those staff members. The UCPR is waiting for further directions from the Eastern Ontario Health Unit about conducting testing at the other two centres.