Health Minister Christine Elliott and Premier Doug Ford, who have since tested negative for the virus, underwent COVID-19 testing on Wednesday after learning that the province's education minister, Stephen Lecce, had earlier come in contact with someone who tested positive for the virus.
Ford and Elliott, who had held a joint press conference with Lecce one day earlier, decided to skip their daily briefing at Queen's Park on Wednesday afternoon out of an abundance of caution.
Elliott also cancelled an appearance at a Brampton mobile testing site that was scheduled for 3 p.m.
Lecce released a statement shortly before 2 p.m. on Wednesday confirming that his test results had come back negative and about an hour-and-a-half later, Elliott was seen shopping at an LCBO near Dupont Street and Spadina Avenue.
A photo sent to CP24 shows Elliott, who is wearing a surgical mask, standing beside a basket and looking at the store's VQA wine selection.
“Minister Lecce's results came back negative before I went for testing and so while there was no real need for me to go to be tested, I had made a public commitment to do so and so that's where I went,” Elliott told reporters at Queen’s Park on Thursday.
“I went and while I was at the assessment centre having the test, I was advised that because I had not directly been in contact with anyone with COVID that I did not need to self-isolate...That was the medical advice I was given and that is what I did and my test results came back negative of course."
Elliott and Ford returned to Queen's Park for their daily COVID-19 update on Thursday afternoon.
“To be clear, both Premier Ford and Minister Elliott have had no known contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19, and as a result, there is no need for either of them to self-isolate,” a statement from the premier’s office read.
“They will continue to follow public health guidelines.”
Lecce's office confirmed Thursday that he will continue to self-isolate.