Saskatchewan man sends family in B.C. rapid tests by mail

With overwhelming demand for a COVID-19 test in B.C. in recent weeks, a man in Saskatchewan said he had to help his family on the west coast.

Troy Weppler says he felt like he was doing something clandestine sending a package of rapid tests in the mail from Saskatoon over the holiday season.

In Saskatchewan, tests can be picked up in stores, libraries, and at firehalls. Many people are sending them to other areas of the country where they aren’t available.

Weppler says he had an abundance of rapid tests in Saskatoon and his family in British Columbia couldn’t get any.

“I bought the envelope and turned around and shoved it in the envelope so the guy at the post office couldn’t see what I was doing and I was like why do I feel so guilty about doing this,” he said.

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“Everywhere I go I’m getting tests thrown at me. So why can’t I throw a couple in an envelope and mail them out to family in B.C.?”

The federal government said this week that 140-million tests are to be distributed to provinces and territories on a per-capita basis this month.

Weppler says he hopes that means more in other provinces, but if not he may end up at the post office again.

A graph from the federal government showing rapid test distribution to B.C., as of Jan. 7, 2022. (canada.ca)

B.C.’s ministry of health has said rapid tests are being allocated to priority settings like long-term care homes, Indigenous communities, and schools.

“With the tests available to us, we have made significant progress deploying tests despite very challenging winter weather and the holiday season,” the ministry said in an email to CityNews Thursday.

An additional 500,000 tests would be arriving in B.C. by mid-next week.

“We’re also continuing efforts to expedite the breaking down and re-packaging of kits from 10 or 25 tests per kit into individual or 2-packs so that they are more conducive for use by the untrained. This also involves replacing nasopharyngeal swabs with nasal swabs so that tests can be used without the assistance of trained health care workers,” the province said.