Ontario residents lining up for free rapid antigen COVID-19 tests on Friday say they experienced hours-long waits, treasure-map style hunts for availability and at least one crowd control issue requiring police intervention, with many people still leaving frustrated and empty handed.
Just days into a campaign to distribute rapid antigen tests to the general public during the winter holiday season, the LCBO announced 100 of its stores would have supplies of the tests on Friday.
Amy Quattrociocchi told CP24 she and her husband went to three LCBO outlets on the list on Friday morning, and none of them had any tests.
She arrived at a store in Etobicoke and saw people “running into the store.”
“There was a manager or another person outside telling they don’t have the tests and didn’t know when we’re going to get them.”
They went to another location at Albion Mall.
“People were just parking wherever they could and running to get into the line.”
That outlet had not received any test supplies either and they eventually left.
“The LCBOs have them and you hear (Premier Doug) Ford saying the LCBO’s have them - and the store (staff) are saying they don’t know what he’s talking about,” she said.
Instead, Quattrociocchi said she went online and purchased 10 rapid antigen tests from Markham, Ont.-based BTNX for $138 with taxes and shipping.
Using data released when the Ontario government announced its purchase of 11 million tests for schools, 10 rapid antigen tests would cost the government approximately $10 to procure.
At Canada Square near Yonge-Eglinton subway station, Toronto police told CP24 they were called for crowd control on Friday morning as the rapid test handout site there was swarmed with people.
They say they secured the area and made sure commuters and people queuing for tests didn’t spill out onto the roadway.
A spokesperson for the Minister of Health said that the province never specified when on Friday that LCBO outlets would receive the tests and the lack of tests at some sites this morning should not be interpreted as a delay.
“No time was ever specified for when tests would be available in stores,” Alexandra Hilkene said.
“The province provided tests to the LCBO for distribution and it is our understanding the LCBO began distributing tests to the 100 stores this morning.”
Shortly before noon, the LCBO began to tweet about stores that had run out of test supplies.
That was cold comfort for Helen Penfold, who told CP24 she stood outside a LCBO store at Yonge Street and Scrivener Square.
“I am 78-years-old and I have been in line for an hour and a half and the kits still aren’t here,” she said.
She said the staff were not sure when they’d get the tests.
At about 11 a.m., the tests finally reached the Scrivener Square LCBO. It took five minutes for supplies to run out.
Ian Smith told CP24 he failed to get a test pack at the Canada Square site, so he lined up at the LCBO at Scrivener Square.
“All this is up on a website, so why broadcast it on a website and on the news and not have any tests - I am a little confused,” he said.
“I am not going to wait in a lineup all day. I guess I am really frustrated, but this isn’t the first time something around the pandemic has been mishandled.”
The Ford government's approach to rapid tests has evolved considerably over the past four months, with millions of the devices now being sent free to schools and the general public.
Hilkene told CP24 the government realizes there is intense demand for the tests.
“In the face of the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant, we recognize there is significant demand for rapid tests and are pleased to see so many people embrace the opportunity to add an extra layer of protection in advance of the holidays,” she said. “Ontario has a limited supply of rapid tests and every single test the province has received from the federal government is out the door to thousands of workplaces, hospitals, home and community care settings, long-term care homes, schools and child care centres on top of the many pop-up sites across the province.”
She said the province recently learned of a “delay” in the latest delivery of rapid tests from the federal government.
“In light of this, Ontario is directly procuring additional rapid tests where possible, and we continue to urge the federal government to make more rapid tests available to provinces as quickly as possible.”
Asked about when Ontario would receive its next shipment of rapid tests from the federal government, Health Canada said it was urgently working to determine when more tests would reach the province.
“The Government of Canada has delivered rapid tests to Ontario this month and is working quickly to determine a revised shipment schedule to respond to the recently received additional request for rapid tests this month,” a spokesperson told CP24.
A full list of the public spaces and LCBO outlets who will have rapid antigen test kits can be found here.
Colleen MacLeod, sector chair for LCBO workers with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, said her members were happy to assist with rapid test distribution, but that the plan to do so in stores was rushed and poorly communicated.
“It wasn’t supposed to be a reason to come into the LCBO in and of itself - the province did not communicate their plan properly. Many customers even believe that we are administering the tests inside the stores to customers,” she told CP24.
At a LCBO store in Vaughan, a woman told CTV News that customers were following staff around inside the outlet and behind cash registers, asking if staff had rapid tests stuffed in them.
“It’s causing chaos in our stores. It puts the public at risk,” MacLeod said.
She said she has heard of at least one instance where someone with COVID-19 symptoms entered an LCBO and asked for a staff member to perform a rapid test on them.
Rapid antigen tests are best used on asymptomatic individuals to detect not only whether they are positive for COVID-19, but also in the most infectious stage of their infection.
Positive results must always be confirmed with a PCR test.
MacLeod said her members are frustrated by the chaos and uncertainty.
“This was just dropped on us in a matter of hours, we had to find out from the public on the day of the announcement, the communication was terrible,” she said.
She also said LCBO employees themselves working at the stores were not allowed to keep any tests handed out Friday for themselves.
LCBO’s corporate communications unit confirmed this to CP24.
“We’ve made rapid tests available to those employees who have not been vaccinated, as well as those who are medically exempt or have not disclosed their vaccination status,” an LCBO spokesperson told CP24. “We have also placed an order for those employees who wish to take a test on a voluntary basis. In the meantime, LCBO’s initial allocation of rapid tests, as one part of the government’s enhanced COVID-19 testing strategy, is intended for customers.”
She said LCBOs have been given 200,000 rapid antigen tests total so far to distribute to the general public.
People in Ottawa and London reported similar problems with availability of the tests.
In Collingwood, Ont. a CP24 viewer said hundreds of people including many seniors waited two hours for tests, which were handed out in less than 20 minutes.
