COVID-19 test demand swamps provincial sites, ‘burden’ on pharmacies

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This article was published 28/12/2021 (1547 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A small crew of provincial public service workers gave up their holidays to pack thousands of rapid COVID-19 tests into zipper lock bags, as overwhelming demand forced at least one test site to close early while Manitoba broke another pandemic record Tuesday.

Over the past two days, about 30 civil servants have been on the assembly line at a warehouse in northwest Winnipeg, instead of taking days off in lieu of Christmas and Boxing Day, to pack about 7,000 rapid test kits.

Beginning this week, most vaccinated, symptomatic people would no longer be given a PCR test at provincial sites. Instead, they would be given a kit of three self-administered rapid antigen tests to take at home.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced the change to the province’s strategy as people continued to wait hours at test sites and the backlog of samples at laboratories grew to more than 11,000, with results taking as many as five days to be reported.

Gordon joined the civil servants (who were paid for their time) to assemble kits Tuesday, as the province recorded a record-setting 825 new infections.

Despite the efforts to reduce the strain on testing sites, the Nairn Avenue location in Winnipeg was forced to turn away clients around 4 p.m.

Winnipeg police advised the media the test site had reached capacity three hours before its scheduled closing time, after traffic had been snarled in the area most of the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Pharmacists Manitoba president Darren Murphy said his members have been inundated with calls from people on the hunt for rapid tests, offering to shell out cash rather than wait in lengthy lines.

“It’s actually becoming quite a burden on pharmacies,” Murphy said. “We have our usual workload as is, and then phones ringing off the hook is quite significant for us.”

However, Murphy said most pharmacies do not have take-home rapid tests available for sale due to supply shortages. Tests would typically retail for $15 to $30 a piece, he said.

“We’re in talks with suppliers but they just can’t guarantee us a timeline on them,” Murphy said. “They just don’t currently have the supply to get to us. We’re truthfully hoping it could be next week or the week after… It’s still up in the air.”

Pharmacists continue to offer point-of-care rapid tests (for a fee) for people who have no symptoms and need a negative test result for travel or to comply with provincial health orders. Pharmacists have had to turn away people coming in for a rapid test while experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, Murphy added.

“It’s not the proper way to do it and it’s not safe for our staff either,” he said. “If you are symptomatic, it’s really important to go to the public test sites.”

Husni Zeid, manager of the Corydon-area grocery store FoodFare, said he was lucky to find a rapid test supplier through a friend who had a connection in Ontario.

Zeid ordered 25 boxes of tests, with 25 pieces each, which cost around $350 with express shipping on Christmas Eve. They sold out within six hours, at a price of $400 a box or $40 for a single test.

Despite receiving a fair bit of criticism on social media for turning a profit during a provincial shortage, Zeid said he was only responding to demand from customers who wanted results quickly — and pointed out any business can source and sell the test kits.

“Some people were very grateful that we had them. Some people understood that $40 might be a lot for one test, but at the same time they understood that if they wanted to get a test (at a provincial site)… they would have to wait in line for five hours,” Zeid said.

He advised people unhappy about the cost to go to a local screening site instead.

“It all comes down to your personal preference. Do you have a whole day to waste for yourself to go get checked out and tested, and do you have the three or four days to wait at home to get the result?” Zeid said. “That doesn’t cost you anything.”

University of Manitoba immunology Prof. Deanna Santer said it is shocking the province has not made rapid tests widely available to the public yet. In Saskatchewan, test kits are free at libraries, shopping centres, grocery stores and fire halls.

“The best strategy is to have these in people’s houses before they have symptoms. So that if something does happen, they can do the test easily, quickly and not be leaving their home when we know that they’re likely contagious,” Santer said.

Rapid tests should be available in as many communities as possible, and not just at test sites, which are not easily accessible for everyone, she said.

“They’re wanting symptomatic people to go to the testing sites, which could also mean on transit, if they don’t have a car or don’t live near the site, and it’s completely opposite of what we should be doing.”

In a statement to the Free Press, a spokeswoman for Manitoba Central Services, the department responsible for distributing rapid tests, said the provincial government “currently has an adequate supply of tests to meet the current distribution demand at test sites.”

She added the province does not regulate the sale of rapid tests. “The province condemns any profiteering on test kits and commits to examining options to stop it should it become widespread.”

More rapid tests are also on the way, with the federal government expected to confirm a shipment of 7.4 million tests shortly, she said.

Tests are also being provided at social services offices for clients, to Community Living Disability Services clients, staff at Child and Family Service agencies, and through schools for families with children in kindergarten to Grade 6.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca