Albertans snatch up nearly half of rapid test kits since Friday
Posted Dec 20, 2021 2:24 pm.
Last Updated Dec 20, 2021 2:26 pm.
It was a hot holiday commodity, and that was shown in numbers released on Monday.
Since Friday, Alberta has handed out around 230,000 rapid COVID-19 test kits of the 500,000 that were made available at pharmacies and AHS sites across the province.
Alberta Health confirms Albertans picked up about 230,000 kits (each with 5 tests) since Friday – about half the 500k that were made available.
Another 400k on hand will be put out in coming days, with another 200k shipping later this month. #yeg #yyc #ableg #Covid19ab
— Courtney Theriault (@cspotweet) December 20, 2021
After the province announced it would be dropping the test kits, Albertans lined up at their nearest pharmacy and waited in line to try and snag one.
Some people CityNews spoke with waited upwards of an hour in line to try and get their hands on one.
READ MORE:
Albertans met with long wait times, no inventory as free rapid test kits become available
Some people weren’t as lucky though as they were met with a “no inventory” sign upon arrival to their location.
The province has said despite these locations not having supply, they would get theirs at some point, but some locations were taking longer than others.
Officials expect Alberta to distribute the remaining supply in the coming days, with another shipment coming later this month.
Alberta has already requested another 4.3 million tests this month, with hopes of increasing that to 10 million tests a month starting in January.
