Shoppers Drug Mart in Crescent Heights, across the road from Northlands Co-op, and Sandstone Pharmacies in the Carry Drive Medicine Clinic building, are both doing asymptomatic COVID-19 testing by appointment.--NEWS PHOTO GILLIAN SLADE
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade
Alberta Health revealed on Thursday morning that there are two pharmacies in Medicine Hat offering COVID-19 testing for people without any symptoms.
The two pharmacies are Sandstone Pharmacies, 116 Carry Drive, located in the Carry Drive Clinic building, and Shoppers Drug Mart. 2440 Division Avenue NW, on the opposite side of the road from Northlands Co-op in Crescent Heights.
Both pharmacies tell the News they have in fact been doing the tests for a couple of weeks already – when Alberta Health announced it was initially rolling out the program only in Calgary and Edmonton.
To qualify for testing at these pharmacies you must:
– have no symptoms of COVID-19;
– have not been in contact with anyone who has COVID in the last 14 days;
– have not travelled in the last 14 days;
– have a valid Alberta Health card.
The cost of the test is covered by Alberta Health. The test is a throat swab, which is sent to Alberta Precision Labs for analysis.
You do need an appointment for the test and so must telephone first to set this up.
Sandstone Pharmacy: 403-528-2111, Shoppers Drug Mart (Crescent Heights) 403-528-0539.
A spokesperson for Shoppers told the News that they had done about 10 appointments on Thursday morning and were expecting more in the afternoon.
Bruce Winston from Sandstone Pharmacy said the response from the public has been one of gratitude to have the option of a test there rather than going through the regular Alberta Health Services process.
At the moment appointments can still be made for the same day or the next. He said it is not clear how long that will be possible because the demand could increase suddenly.
An appointment only lasts a few minutes because some of the details and screening is done over the phone when the appointment is booked.
Results are available within two or three days. There is a procedure to receive a text message or phone call with the results of the test. A family doctor is also informed of a positive result. When a patient does not have a family doctor the pharmacist will fill that role of notifying the patient, said Winston.
Asymptomatic testing is particularly encouraged, Alberta Health said in an announcement on Thursday afternoon, before or after spending time with individuals who have a higher risk of serious health outcomes and before or after travelling internationally, attending an event with recent travellers or hosting them.
Alberta Health Services says about 60 per cent of all current COVID-19 tests are on people without symptoms. Roughly 0.4 per of those test positive. Asymptomatic testing was not available to Albertans in general until the end of May.
Currently the number of positive cases of all testing, those with symptoms and those without, is less than two per cent.
In late April about 8 per cent of people with symptoms that were being tested were positive. The number of positive cases by zone shows a higher rate. In early March, Calgary had about 12 per cent positive and it was similar in the northern zone in early April. The south zone had the highest rate at about 25 per cent towards the end of April.
Alberta Health announced on Thursday that 10,300 Albertans have been tested at pharmacies so far.
Winston says anyone that does not meet the criteria to be tested at the pharmacy must call HealthLink at 811 for instructions on how to get a test scheduled.
