Inside Montreal, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier mostly travels, his desk in his backpack, on the lookout for fascinating people and subjects. He speaks to everyone and is interested in all circles in this urban chronicle.
Did a pharmacy near you just receive a delivery of self-tests today? That could be. If so, put this column aside. Immediately go get your kit while you have some left!
“It goes away in less than two hours,” an employee of a pharmacy in my neighborhood told me.
“We order it every day and we are told that there is none, and if it happens tomorrow, it will once again be gone very, very quickly,” explains one of her colleagues.
While racing in Hochelaga, I visited a Jean Coutu pharmacy, a Uniprix and a Pharmaprix.
Each posted downtime notices to deter people from bothering lab workers.
“I am still asked the question all day,” confides a clerk, resigned.
A pharmacy always keeps the same sheets to say “No, we don’t have any!” »And modifies the date with correction fluid.
To avoid over-stimulating a rush, a pharmacist told me not to post that she received a shipment … In other words, if there is no notice on the door to say ‘he didn’t. there aren’t any ”, it is probably because – oh miracle – there is! First come, first served … until return to normal (i.e. shortage).
I wanted to take the pulse off the island, and at Familiprix Extra Chantal Gagnon in Saint-Césaire, customers are notified on the store’s Facebook page when there is a delivery.
Every employee I spoke to was optimistic about the chances of receiving deliveries by the 31st New Years Eve. So, dear readers, to your phones. Be understanding if the person answering you is not overflowing with enthusiasm: they receive 100 calls a day.
Pay or hang out
After my third pharmacy, I met two French teenage girls on vacation who told me that they had crisscrossed the neighborhood in search of tests. I then drop my quest for the Grail. I take out my wallet. In Kijij, some “scammers” offer to sell the kits they (probably) obtained for free. Someone is offering a test for $ 15.
Photo Louis-Philippe Messier
Some sell quick tests on sites like Kijiji.
I would also consider going to one of the private testing clinics, like Go Test Rapide, which wouldn’t keep me waiting and give me my results quickly … if I pay $ 75!
I am distraught with pity for these people who are made to hang out for hours in line in front of “free” public health clinics. I put “free” in quotes because wasting time like this is an expense. Frankly, I am much less afraid of the Omicron variant as such than of the obligation I would find myself in, having contracted it, to impose on myself a session of “hanging out” and shivering on a sidewalk 2 meters away. my fellows.