N95 masks, rapid tests, still hard to come by in Edmonton – Edmonton | The Canadian News

Romaine Fleck didn’t expect to come out in a new mask. But a trip to a local medical supply store paid off for the EMS dispatcher, who said a cloth or medical mask will no longer suffice on the job.

“You have 15 people at any given time, talking, running, (or) you have to leave your desk. It’s impossible (to physically distance yourself), ”Fleck said.

He picked up a pair of FFP2 masks, the European equivalent of the N95, which is also sold by Healthcare Solutions. The store told Global News that there has been a lot of demand for both of them lately.

“In fact, we were out of stock all of last week through (Wednesday) morning,” said Angel Yu, vice president of sales and marketing for Healthcare Solutions. “So today it seems very crowded, but I would say that in a week, everything will be gone.”

Several Edmonton-area box stores that we called out were out of N95 masks, including Home Depot and Costco.

An employee at a South Edmonton Costco said all locations in the area were out of stock of N95 masks and none were expected to arrive in the near future. A shipment of KN95, the Chinese equivalent to N95, was expected next week.

On Tuesday, Alberta’s chief medical officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, said there was little evidence to show that wearing N95 masks had any “significant” benefit in a community setting compared to wearing a high-fitting, well-fitting medical mask. quality.

Last month, a panel of Ontario doctors said single-layer cloth masks would not be effective against the Omicron variant.

Quick test problems

Rapid tests continue to be a hot item in the Edmonton area as well.

On Wednesday, the federal government announced that 140 million tests would be sent to provinces and territories for the month of January.

The Alberta government said nearly 15 million tests (or 3 million kits) will be available throughout January.

“We have acquired around 10 million additional rapid tests. The first million of these additional tests arrived in the province last week, and 3 million are scheduled to arrive each week through mid-January, ”Alberta Health’s Lisa Glover said in a statement to Global News.

Pharmacies contacted by Global News said that stocks of rapid antigen tests had not been restocked since the initial shipment distributed as of Dec. 17 and said there was no way to order more.

“The usual way to order a shipment of these is through our two big suppliers here in Alberta and there isn’t even an option to order them,” said Sara Kenawy, a pharmacist at Balsam Pharmacy in south central Edmonton.

Kenaway said he receives an average of 20 calls a day from people trying to find rapid test kits.

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