As Christmas Day approaches, one of the seasons’ hottest items isn’t a toy but a COVID-19 rapid test kit.
Friday marked the first day free kits were available across the province and Audrey Swap hoped to get one from the Coaldale Health Centre before gathering with family for the holidays.
“I phoned and sure enough (they) said ‘Oh, now we’re all out. We may get some next week,'” Swap said.
“But they said if they do, you have to be there by 7:30 in the morning or you’re not going to get one then either.”
At 9:15 a.m. Friday, Alberta Health Services South Zone tweeted its sites in Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Pincher Creek and Coaldale were already out of stock.
The South Zone received a total of 4,000 kits containing five rapid tests each, with 400 available at the Lethbridge Health Unit, the only site handing them out in the city.
Global News asked Alberta Health specifically why Lethbridge — the province’s third-largest city — was not included in the initial pharmacy rollout on Friday. Pharmacies are only carrying them in Calgary, Edmonton and Red Deer so far.
We did not receive a response to that question, but in a statement, Alberta Health said “we have worked hard to make sure supply is distributed throughout the province for Albertans. However, as there are initially only 500,000 kits available in total, we can expect that demand will exceed supply.”
Alberta Health adds an additional 50,000 kits were being shipped to AHS locations on Friday.
Now, Swap is left hoping she will be able to grab a kit when the next wave arrives in the area. If not, her plans will look similar to last Christmas.
“We have been in a small two-household bubble all along and we were all prepared with our own turkeys and our own hams in case we were all separate and it turned out to be all okay,” Swap said.
“We’ll just be the safest we can and hope for the best.”
Alberta Health says as more kits become available from Health Canada, more pickup location will be added across the province.
“We continue to work with the federal government to secure additional rapid test kit supply as quickly as possible,” Alberta Health said.
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