It is difficult for tourists visiting Quebec to obtain rapid tests, the sale of which is still not widespread, while the summer season is in full swing and a seventh wave is hitting the province.
“Rapid tests are part of the arsenal we have to control the epidemic, so the more tests are available, the more we can reduce transmission. It’s a bit deplorable that the tests are not more accessible [pour les touristes] “, laments epidemiologist Kévin L’Espérance.
While thousands of tourists are flocking to Quebec to take advantage of the summer in the middle of the seventh wave, two solutions are available to those who want to be tested: take a paid private screening test or buy boxes of rapid screening tests. , explains by email the spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Social Services, Marjorie Larouche.
But it is not so easy to find these, which are not the same as those given by the government to Quebecers.
By pretending to be a European tourist visiting the Belle Province, the representative of the Log attempted to obtain rapid drug tests from pharmacists.
Without RAMQ
Out of about fifteen businesses, only one, in Gaspé, indicated that they sell boxes, the price of which is around $30 for two tests.
Not selling paid tests, some pharmacies nevertheless agreed to give them to the representative of the Log to help control infections.
In Gaspé, Chicoutimi, Quebec, Montreal or Sherbrooke, more than half of the professionals contacted only asked that she present a passport.
In Montreal, a pharmacist, who asked to remain anonymous, says she has difficulty obtaining these tests specially made for sale.
“We had some at the beginning of January, but it was a different context and it didn’t sell much, and as it expires, the wholesalers don’t have many,” says the one who no longer sells it.
need a friend
To help tourists identify themselves easily, the latter therefore suggests that they come with a friend from Quebec.
“We do everything to help people get tested,” drops the pharmacist.
Because to deliver boxes for free, pharmacists must ensure that the customer has either a Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec (RAMQ) card or a residential address in Quebec, recalls Benoit Morin, president of the Quebec Association of Owner Pharmacists.
“In the other waves [les contaminations] were really local. There, we are really in front of a new phenomenon where we have more tourists who will need it [de tests] “, explains Mr. Morin, who assures that he will encourage his members to provide themselves with paid rapid tests.