'People are still looking for them': Free at-home COVID-19 tests limited in Alberta

Albertans may struggle to find free at-home COVID-19 tests – and might need to pay for the ones they do find – now that the province’s stockpile is distributed, and the federal program is over.

Ottawa’s free COVID-19 rapid antigen distribution program, which supplied provinces and territories with the kits, ended on Oct. 1, and there are no plans to replenish the inventory.

Alberta Health confirms its entire stock has gone out to pharmacies.

"Although supply may be limited, there are still a number of pharmacies across Alberta that continue to have a supply," the ministry said in a statement, directing people to a map on the Alberta Blue Cross Inventory site.

"If Albertans are unable to find a pharmacy offering free-of-charge rapid antigen tests, they may choose to purchase a testing kit from a pharmacy or an online retailer."

Heba Elbayoumi, the pharmacist and owner at Heathers Pharmacy on 10 Street N.W. in Calgary, says she has patients regularly looking for the tests.

"It is something we get phone calls and inquiries (about). People are still looking for them," she said.

Elbayoumi says she resorted to ordering a private stock of the rapid tests to sell to patients.

"There’s actually quite a bit of a demand," she said

"I get nurses looking for them, I get people who work in assisted living facilities looking to get tested if they’re concerned they might have caught something before they go back to work. I have people who have chemo or cancer treatments, or people who are going to visit their older parents and they want to check and test first before they do that."

Some pharmacies offer on-site testing, and Alberta Health is still providing laboratory-based COVID PCR testing for people at risk of severe outcomes to support their clinical care and for outbreak management in high risk facilities.

Can I still use expired tests?

Many of the rapid tests provided to Albertans through the federal program will expire at the end of the year, but many health officials say you can still use them – within reason.

The manufacturer determines the expiry date, which is on the box or label of the kit, but Health Canada has also granted several shelf-life extensions for certain rapid tests.

Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, says there is still value in using kits for roughly a year after their expiry dates.

She says as a rule of thumb, a positive COVID test should be treated as positive infection, but a negative can’t necessarily guarantee there is no COVID infection.

"If it’s longer than a year than the date on the test kit, you’d probably still be fine to use it as long as you’re willing to accept that you would possibly not capture a COVID infection – it may be less sensitive of capturing infection – but, if you test positive, even a faint positive, it is something that you can reasonably rely on."

She said there is still value of knowing if you’ve tested positive, particularly for people who are at higher risk of serious outcomes.

"If a rapid test can help people make good decisions, I think there is some value to having them, but providing them centrally for a really long time and using them as generously as we used to may not be as justified as in the past. So, I think we’re kind of somewhere in the middle state with that."

COVID cases in Alberta

The lack of access to rapid tests comes as COVID cases rise in Alberta.

According to the province’s respiratory virus dashboard, there were 591 new COVID cases in Alberta between Oct, 20 and 26, with 313 people in hospital and 15 in the ICU.

Four more people died in that time, for a total of 119 COVID-related deaths in Alberta since the end of August – when the province begins tracking respiratory season.

Dr. Satish Raj, a professor in the Cumming School of Medicine and researcher of long-COVID, says people should be taking measures and precautions

"If you feel unwell, you should stay at home and not expose yourself to a bunch of other people, whether it’s COVID or not," Raj said.

"Whatever you have is probably infectious. You’re probably better off, a) trying to get better and b) trying to protect others by not going to work or going to school while you’re feeling unwell.

"I think as a society, we need to understand that and it’s not a COVID specific thing."

Health officials are also encouraging people to get their fall immunizations to help stop the spread of respiratory illnesses like COVID, influenza and RSV, and prevent serious illness.

You can book your COVID-19 and influenza immunization appointments through Alberta Health Services.