Health Minister Tyler Shandro. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Select pharmacies in Alberta to offer COVID-19 testing

Jun 25, 2020 | 3:55 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – People without COVID-19 symptoms will soon be able to get tested for COVID-19 at a number of “community pharmacies” across the province.

Health Minister Tyler Shandro says, in the coming days, 20 pharmacies will begin offering throat swab testing. Most of these will be in Calgary and Edmonton initially.

In the weeks ahead, this will expand to more locations across the province.

The number of pharmacies initially doing this is being limited to ensure the processes and flow of test materials and data is working well before expanding further.

“This will help us to ensure, here in Alberta, testing materials, data, and supports are working well before expanding this initiative further.”

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Shandro believes offering testing in this method “just makes sense.”

“Pharmacists are highly trained health professionals and pharmacies support the health of their communities every day. Testing is well within pharmacists’ scope of practice and their competence.”

Participating pharmacies will receive specialized training and will follow strict protocols.

Those who do show symptoms of the virus are asked to not attend their pharmacy in-person and to instead complete the online AHS self-assessment forms.

For the COVID-19 update for Thursday, June 25, 26 new infections were confirmed across the province, bringing the total to 7,851. Of those, 506 are still active while 7,191 people have recovered.

This includes two new cases in the South Health Zone. One was in North Lethbridge, while the County of Warner saw its first-ever case of COVID-19.

One person in the Edmonton Zone died as a result of the virus, meaning it has now claimed the lives of 154 Albertans.

The regional breakdown is as follows:

• Calgary zone – 5,238 cases, 207 active
  • 112 deaths
  • 162,530 tests
• South Zone – 1,291 cases, 23 active
  • 10 deaths
  • 27,605 tests
• Edmonton zone – 925 cases, 237 active
  • 15 deaths (one new)
  • 113,523 tests
• North zone – 292 cases, 33 active
  • 16 deaths
  • 29,644 tests
• Central zone – 90 cases, three active
  • One death
  • 28,355 tests

As for the breakdown for the South Health Zone, the province recently changed the way they display information on the geospatial map, which is how we get the information for this. Due to this change, some of the local numbers may be off from what we have previously reported.

• Brooks – 1,119 cases, three active, nine deaths
• Cardston County – 39 cases, eight active, one death
• Medicine Hat – 38 cases, two active
• Lethbridge – 38 cases (one new), five active
  • West Lethbridge – 15 cases (one new), one active
  • South Lethbridge – 14 cases, zero active
  • North Lethbridge – nine cases (one new), four active
• Cypress County – 21 cases, zero active
• County of Newell – 20 cases, zero active
• Fort Macleod – seven cases, one active
• Lethbridge County – Three cases, two active
• M.D. of Taber – Two cases, zero active
• County of Forty Mile – Two cases, zero active
• County of Warner – One case (one new), one active