LETTER: Government should still be providing free COVID test kits

To the editor:

The government of Ontario isn't supplying rapid tests to citizens.

I am a senior and my health is 'fairly' good. My grandson comes and stays with me after school until his dad gets home from work.

If he brings the Covid virus home to me, and I can't test to see if it's just a seasonal thing or Covid, it can be a problem. I received assisted showers and the PSWs that come into my home go into the homes of other seniors.

If I have Covid I don't know it, it's possible I will start an outbreak among vulnerable people.

I know the government wants to save money to build a tunnel under a highway, but they should still be providing free tests with the drugstores distributing them.

The other concern is; the time I had Covid I was able to phone my drugstore to confirm that I had a positive result on the test and the drugstore was able to send medication that would help me fight the virus. Without that medicine, I would have been hospitalized. My oxygen had dropped to 92 (I'm not a smoker) and the things that kept me out of the hospital were having a CPAP machine which I kept on 24/7 and the meds from the drugstore.

It's cheaper to provide free kits to test for the virus than to hospital vulnerable people who've caught Covid.

Roberta Livingstone

North Bay