Looking for a free COVID-19 test? Pharmacies and public health units are out

Londoners looking for free COVID-19 rapid antigen tests may be out of luck as many pharmacies and public health units are out of stock.

Several independent pharmacies in London say they have not been able to order take-home COVID-19 tests for their stores since the Ministry of Health discontinued its free testing program last year.

"Once they expired, we had to dispose of them, and we just weren't able to order more," said Michael Bosta, a pharmacist at Hamilton Pharmacy in east London.

The ministry announced it would stop distributing free tests to pharmacies and grocery stores last June. Any boxes of tests that Londoners may have seen between then and now would have been leftover supplies. 

"We have many callers all throughout the day that think they are positive and they are looking for a test," said Iriny Ibrahim, the manager at Phillbrook Pharmacy, noting it's increased to about 20 people per day in the past month. 

On Tuesday, the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) released data that shows a steady increase in COVID-19 cases, with eight new outbreaks in institutions and an average of 31 people hospitalized in the past week. They also said four people have died of the illness since the end of August.

"If a person tests themselves and it's positive, there's treatment," Ibrahim said. "But how can I offer the treatment if I don't know if the patient is positive or not?"

Test supply short

Without free government-provided tests, pharmacies can order rapid tests from third-party companies to sell at their stores.

According to Bosta, even those are hard to find.

"A lot of companies actually ended up losing money because they were producing several million tests at a time and then the demand just completely stopped," Bosta said. "All the ones that were for sale just expired and nobody's continuously making them at that volume anymore."

Currently, Bosta has a few boxes of tests in his store, which shoppers can buy for $20. "Once they realize it's not free, they don't want to pay for it," he said.

Up until last week, Ibrahim had some free tests left in her pharmacy, and found people were surprised and happy to come across them. But when she went to order more after a government batch expired last week, she was also told they were out of stock.

MLHU and Southwestern Public Health both say they do not have rapid tests and are unsure about their future availability. 

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said rapid antigen tests will only be supplied to healthcare providers to diagnose people eligible for COVID-19 treatment throughout the respiratory virus season.

Expired tests not always effective

If Londoners still have expired COVID-19 tests at home, health experts are reminding people to be cautious while using them. 

"I think if it's the only option, it's better than nothing," said Ibrahim. She said if an expired rapid antigen test shows a positive result, the tester has COVID-19. However, an expired test can show false negative results. 

"If it's positive it's positive but if it's negative, it could still be positive," Ibrahim said. "You cannot depend on it, especially if you have symptoms."

Bosta recommends people don't use expired rapid tests at all.

"They're not going to be accurate and the whole point of a test is to make sure that it's accurate," Bosta said. 

Both pharmacists say that Londoners who feel unwell should ultimately stay at home.

"If you have any symptoms of COVID or even a cold, you need to stay home and not spread the virus," Ibrahim said.