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home / 世界杯决赛2022

some rural albertans say they were left behind during rapid test rollout

albertans living outside of the province’s major urban ...

by dylan short

dec 19 2021
read time 2 minute read
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covid-19 rapid test at her work in calgary, alberta on march 1, 2021. leah hennel / ahs
albertans living outside of the province’s major urban centres are saying they were left behind by the government’s rollout of take-home rapid test kits.
friday marked the first day albertans could receive a kit of rapid tests free of charge from pharmacies and local health centres. the government shipped over 500,000 kits to pharmacies in red deer, edmonton and calgary as well as health centres in other communities.
the launch of the program saw a large turnout across the province, with people in rural areas of the province saying their communities received only a very limited supply.
eric langshaw power said he went to the health centre in canmore shortly after it opened to find they had already distributed their entire supply. after speaking to a friend, he said he was told that there was a large lineup outside the centre before it opened and only some of the people who arrived for the initial rush were able to grab a kit.
he, along with his wife, then went to pharmacies around town to find out if they could get any there. they were told they would have to wait for the next shipment.
“we’re reconsidering what we are going to do (for the holidays),” said langshaw power. “the recommendations from the experts are saying don’t plan on get-togethers, other than a few people. so you’ve got to sort of weed through who you think that you want to see over the holidays.”
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langshaw power said his only option if he wants to get a kit before christmas is to make the hour-long drive into calgary and try to find a pharmacy that still has some left in stock. several pharmacists told postmedia this week that they expected to run out of kits by the end of the weekend.

albertans in several other communities have told postmedia they were unable to get a kit early friday due to a lack of supply at their local clinics. a pharmacist in athabasca, north of edmonton, said the community had run out of kits by saturday morning.
the alberta health services south zone official twitter account stated friday morning lethbridge, medicine hat, pincher creek and coaldale had all run out of free test kits after 400 kits were handed out in each community.
langshaw power said the troubled rollout is the latest step from the government that has left him feeling disappointed.
“i am really upset with our government. i mean, they have dropped the ball so many times on this and this is just the final insult to people of alberta,” said langshaw power. “how can they have been so wrong about so many things?”
alberta health did not respond to requests for comment saturday. kenney has previously laid the lack of supply at the feet of the federal government and said they are waiting for more to arrive in alberta.
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on friday, alberta health spokesperson lisa glover told postmedia that the rollout was progressing as announced but that with a large number of kits being distributed to hundreds of locations across the province, there would be some variance of delivery times. she said she was aware of one shipment that had been stalled due to poor weather and road conditions.
dshort@postmedia.com

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