Strong demand for COVID-19 tests for international travel, says Waterloo pharmacist

Certainrule-bendersaside, the Canadian government has been clear about its policy around international travel: People should avoid all non-essential tripsoutside the country.

Still, Waterloo pharmacist Pascal Niccoli said that he is fielding plenty of calls from people seeking COVID-19 tests to board an international flight.

Since the provincial government stopped paying for outbound international travel tests last month, Niccoli said he's reliably received about 50 to 60 calls a week from peoplehoping to travel outside Canada.

Up until this week, Niccoli said he's had to refer themto testing locations in the Greater Toronto Area. As of Monday, he started offering the tests at his Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy in Conestoga Mall.

"Obviously, there's a lot of sensitivity over it, especially with the latest news around some of our politicians travelling inappropriately, I would say," Niccoli said.

"Canadians should definitely continue to follow government guidelines for travel [but] we need to understand some people have to travel, whether it's for work, personal reasons, compassionate reasons. This program allows them to do it safely."

Some are travelling recreationally, but Niccoli said most requests have come from people who are travelling for work, to visit a sick relative or attend a funeral.

He's also heard from some who are in the country on work visas and who have lost their jobs.

"And now they're kind of sitting here with no family, no work and no reason to really be in the country. So they're heading back home," said Niccoli.

"Like I said, there are compassionate reasons and there are legitimate reasons why people need to travel."

The tests cost $199 plus tax and are processed through Life Labs. They are also on offer at the Shoppers Drug Mart on Ira Needles Boulevard in Kitchener, said Niccoli.

The federal government cautions that anyone travellingoutside Canada may deal with rapidly changing travel restrictionsand could wind up staying outside the country longer than expected.

Thousands of tests

Niccoli said his pharmacy has performed nearly3,000 publicly funded COVID-19 tests since it started offering them in the fall. In recent weeks, his team has often done more than 200 a week once as many as 100 in a single day.

Meanwhile, they've also performed about 2,000 flu shots, up from about 1,200 last year.

Niccoli said he's proud of the way pharmacists throughout the pandemic have risen to the occasionand hopes that his profession will be able to continue taking on more responsibilities in the future.

"I hope at least that we'll be able to play an active role in getting everyone vaccinated against COVID," said Niccoli. "If that became an opportunity for us, I'd 100 per cent be jumping on that."