REGINA -- A man living in rural Saskatchewan is concerned about the accuracy of a website used to register COVID-19 isolation tests.

According to Ian McNichol, who lives on a mixed farm in the RM of Mount Hope No. 279, when he tried to register his family's COVID-19 tests, the website did not recognize where he lives, because he does not have a fixed civic address.

McNichol visited the United States for a medical trial. He returned to Canada on Feb. 27, through the North Portal border crossing, and was given COVID-19 isolation test packages. He said the tests are supposed to be registered online, through a company called Switch, once you know your isolation destination.

Switch Health is a Toronto-based company “dedicated to providing better decentralized patient care” according to its website.

McNichol said his wife called Switch each day since returning to Canada to update how they are feeling, but was not able to register the tests. McNichol said in order to leave isolation after two weeks, he must have a negative result from his test on day 10 of isolation.

As well, the tests need to be couriered to a lab, but that is also a challenge, because he does not have a civic address.

McNichol said his family was eventually able to get in contact with Switch on Sunday, and a nurse walked him through each step of the tests.

“It’s been so painful getting to that point,” McNichol said. “Finally after phoning every day, and them telling us pretty much to wait and wait, this stuff started happening yesterday.”

The family was able to get all the tests needed sent in, and a courier picked the tests up on Monday.

McNichol said he is now concerned about the tests making it to the lab.

“I won’t be comfortable with this until we have results come back,” McNichol said.

Municipalities are able to provide addresses to their citizens directly through the Civic Address Registry (CAR).

Municipal participation in CAR is voluntary, however, municipalities are strongly encouraged to join the program in order to verify the accuracy of addressing data.

In a statement, Switch Health said their goal as a company is to provide health care access to Canadians no matter where they live.

"There have been rare instances where our courier partners could not pick up packages at certain destinations, so we have dispatched third party logistical providers to these areas to help. We are working quickly and diligently to improve overall access in all regions of Canada and will continue to find innovative solutions so that patients can get their test results without further delay."