Albertans may struggle to find free at-home COVID-19 tests — and may have to pay for the ones they do find — now that the province’s stockpile is distributed and the federal program has ended.

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

Alberta Health confirms that its entire stock has been sent to pharmacies.

“While supplies may be limited, there are still a number of pharmacies in Alberta that continue to have supplies,” the ministry said in a statement, pointing people to a map on Alberta Blue Cross Inventory Site.

“If Albertans are unable to find a pharmacy that offers free rapid antigen tests, they can choose to purchase a test kit from a pharmacy or online retailer.”

Heba Elbayoumi, pharmacist and owner of Heathers Pharmacy on 10 Street NW in Calgary, says she has patients who regularly seek out the tests.

“It’s something we get phone calls and questions (about). People are still looking for them,” she said.

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

“There’s actually quite a lot of demand,” she said

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

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

Can I still use expired tests?

Many of the rapid tests offered 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 sets the expiration date, which is on the box or kit label, but Health Canada has also granted several validity extensions for certain rapid tests.

Dr. Lynora Saxinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Calgary, says it’s still useful to use the kits for about a year after the expiration date.

She says as a general rule, a positive COVID test should be treated as a positive infection, but a negative does not necessarily guarantee that there is no COVID infection.

“If it’s more than a year from the date on the test kit, you’d probably be fine to use it as long as you’re willing to accept that you might not catch a COVID infection — it may be less sensitive catching the infection – but if you test positive, even a weak positive, that’s something you can reasonably rely on.”

She said it’s still helpful to know if you’ve tested positive, especially for people who are at higher risk for serious outcomes.

“If a quick test can help people make good decisions, I think there’s some value in having it, but providing it centrally for a very long time and using it as liberally as before it wasn’t as justified as in the past. So I think we’re kind of in the middle of nowhere with that.”

Cases of COVID in Alberta

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

According to the province respiratory virus scoreboardthere were 591 new cases of COVID in Alberta between October 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 late August — when the province begins tracking the respiratory season.

Dr. Satish Raj, a professor at the Cumming School of Medicine and a COVID-19 researcher, says people should take steps and precautions

“If you’re not feeling well, you should stay home and not expose yourself to a lot 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 school while you’re sick.

“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, flu and RSV and prevent serious illness.

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