Where are the COVID-19 self-testing kits? List of pickup locations in Sask. still not available
Province said 1.3 million free self-testing kits would be made available this week
The province's plan to provide rapid antigen COVID-19 self-test kits to Saskatchewan residents remains something of a mystery.
The province announced last week that more than 1.3 million of the kits would be distributed free to the general public starting this week through a range of locations.
While the government's website continues to say that "rapid tests will be shipped to distribution points" this week, there was still no more detailed information as of Wednesday about when and where the public can actually access them.
"Once they are confirmed and they've been delivered, we will put up that location on the website so people can track that down," Marlo Pritchard, president of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency, said on Wednesday.
Last weekend, the province took down a list of 20 locations from its website where people were supposed to be able to get COVID-19 rapid, self-testing kits.
The Ministry of Health said the removal was due to an incredible demand for the take-home tests, which weren't available yet for pick up.
On Monday, the cities of Regina and Saskatoon sent out press releases, informing the public that fire halls in those cities were not participating pickup locations and that COVID-19 self-testing kits were not available.
Pritchard said on Wednesday it will be up to the different locations whether they want to receive the rapid test kits.
COVID-19 self-testing kits are not available for pickup at Saskatoon Fire Halls. <br>See more in this news release: <a href="https://t.co/9rcjoIs2DI">https://t.co/9rcjoIs2DI</a>. <a href="https://t.co/OCRkTfzClJ">pic.twitter.com/OCRkTfzClJ</a>
—@SaskatoonFireHe said some tests moved out Wednesday to participating chambers of commerce and hotel locations.
Other test kits are supposed to be sent out "over the next day or so" to participating fire halls, according to the safety agency president.
"We'll continue to monitor this … to see if we need to identify other locations," said Pritchard.
"At this point in time, that's where we're starting, but we will adapt as we need to."
Pritchard said he didn't want to exclude town halls as potential distribution places for rapid tests in the future, but he wasn't considering them for the first kits arriving.
"[For] the first tranche of the rapid test kits, we've identified chambers of commerce and some very specific locations," said Pritchard.
The free self-testing kits are part of the Saskatchewan's Test to Protect program for asymptomatic surveillance.