The Bradford LCBO never received any rapid antigen tests, but other select stores in the county that did ran out immediately.
There were 100 LCBO stores across Ontario that were slated to get rapid antigen tests for distribution this week. There were four stores on that list in Simcoe County: two in Barrie (37 Caplan Ave. and 534 Bayfield St.), the Collingwood location, and one in Orillia (293 Coldwater Road W.). As of 1 p.m., all four locations are out of stock.
The Collingwood LCBO ran out of rapid antigen tests within two hours of receiving them this morning.
Employee Leslie Meggitt told CollingwoodToday.ca that the store received a shipment of tests from the province at 9:30 a.m. Friday morning to hand out at their store.
“They’re all gone,” said employee Leslie Meggitt when contacted by CollingwoodToday.ca at 12 p.m. “We had a line up.”
She said the store has not yet been informed when and if they will receive more kits.
“We’re only being told basically what everyone else is being told,” she said. “The phone has been ringing off the hook.”
So far, no locations in Simcoe County have been included in the province's scheduled holiday testing blitz, which offers rapid antigen screening to individuals for free at pop-up sites that are so far focused mainly in Toronto and the GTA.
According to the provincial website, the pop-up sites will offer up to two million rapid tests for free in high-traffic locations such as malls, retail settings, holiday markets, public libraries, and transit hubs across Ontario.
“Collingwood Public Library does not have rapid tests available at this time. We will post an update if rapid tests become available,” stated a social media post from the local library.
The pop-ups will offer a take-home kit and some will perform the antigen screening on-site and will be operating throughout December and into January. Access will be limited to one test kit per person as supplies last.
A rapid antigen test is only a screening tool and cannot diagnose COVID-19. Anyone who receives a positive result on the antigen test must self-isolate and seek a PCR test at a COVID-19 assessment centre.
The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit posted to its social media pages that it does not know where in the Simcoe-Muskoka region there will be pop-up holiday testing, but will announce an update if and when they receive more information from the province.
The list of pop-up locations is available on the provincial website here.
With files from Erika Engel.
