Millions of COVID-19 rapid tests to be distributed when Ontario reopens schools
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/01/2022 (1115 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Ontario government is banking on COVID-19 rapid tests, free masks and increased access to vaccinations to get two million schoolchildren back in classrooms and keep them there safely.
Starting Monday, millions of rapid antigen tests will be provided to students, teachers and staff in schools and child-care settings, Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced Wednesday.
While daily absence counts for schools or education boards will be posted online starting Jan. 24, families will only be notified by local public health units when their school hits 30 per cent — although that threshold includes all reasons for absenteeism, not just the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Everyone will initially receive two rapid tests, with more to come as supplies are procured.
Schools were set to reopen for in-person learning on Jan. 3, but Dr. Kieran Moore, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, initially delayed that for two days so N95 masks for teachers and HEPA air filters for classrooms could start to go out to boards.
But last week, Premier Doug Ford said students would switch to online learning until Jan. 17 at the earliest because of a “tsunami” of COVID-19 cases.
“I wish we could say we could eliminate it but that’s not the case,” said Ford while touring a vaccination clinic for teachers, students and education workers at the Toronto Zoo.
At Queen’s Park, Lecce emphasized Ontario is doing more on masks, filters and other measures than any other province in Canada.
“I know this has been tough, but we will get through this,” he said.
Moore — who, like Lecce, is a strong proponent of keeping schools open — said that “while the risk of transmission in school settings can never be eliminated,” with masking, ventilation and more vaccinations “it can be reduced or mitigated.”
Pediatric experts, including those at Sick Kids Hospital and Ottawa’s CHEO, have issued strong calls for a return to in-person classes, given the toll remote learning has taken on the mental health and well-being of children.
Indeed, newly released research by the province’s COVID-19 science table, which had advised Ford to have the two-week circuit breaker, said school closings “are associated with serious risks for children.”
It cited a study of people aged six to 18 with no previous mental health issues that found rates of depression and anxiety “nearly tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic to one in four for depression and one in five for anxiety.”
Ontario students have spent more time learning online than in any other Canadian province, U.S. state or much of Europe — some 27 weeks and counting since the pandemic struck 96 weeks ago.
Moore said that before, “an entire cohort of children would have been sent home for two or three positive cases in a class, significantly disrupting classroom learning of students and impacting their households.”
Now, he said, “our new approach focuses on empowering parents and students” with take-home PCR tests if a student or staffer falls ill at schools, plus the rapid tests.
Parents and critics have said families need to know when there are COVID-19 cases in schools.
However, with new provincial limits on PCR testing, that will no longer happen. Instead, schools will track student and staff absences, and principals will liaise with local public health officials when they hit 30 per cent.
“It shouldn’t be easier to find out if there’s a lice outbreak in your kid’s school than a COVID outbreak,” said NDP education critic Marit Stiles.
Moore said when a school’s absentee rate hits 30 per cent, there “will be consultation between the health unit to understand is there an impact on the health system, what is the transition going on in that community, and the communication prepared to inform parents immediately of any potential risk and the risk assessment by the local public health agency.”
“There will be an explanation and actions that families can take to further protect themselves,” the top doctor said.
Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association, said “it is extremely important that the delivery of the rapid antigen tests for staff and students happens as soon as possible … There are many in our school communities who remain concerned about our decreased ability to accurately track cases in our schools.”
Wilfrid Laurier University epidemiologist Todd Coleman applauded the masking measures, but warned the heavy reliance on rapid tests will inevitably let cases through because people can transmit COVID-19 before showing symptoms.
Coleman said the government’s plan to hold off on notifying parents about potential outbreaks until an absentee rate of 30 per cent is reached in a class, along with lining up more substitute teachers — now also allowing first-year student teachers to supply — suggests “they’re expecting high levels of transmission.
Asked why Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine isn’t mandatory — like shots for diphtheria, measles, mumps, polio, rubella, and tetanus — to attend school in Ontario, Moore said it’s “new” and that “we want more experience with it before we mandate it.”
That remark drew criticism from those fearing it could slow vaccination efforts, prompting the Ministry of Health to issue a “clarification” later in the afternoon.
“I want to be clear that the pediatric Pfizer vaccine for children five to 11 is safe, effective, and provides strong protection against COVID-19 and its variants,” said a statement from Moore noting “millions” of children have had the shots with only mild side effects.
Lecce said although vaccinations aren’t mandatory, holding vaccination clinics on-site before, during and after school will help boost rates among children aged five to 11; currently, fewer than half of them have had one shot.
The province has distributed 9.1 million N95 respirator masks to school boards for all staff, and an additional four million three-ply masks for Ontario’s two million students.
As well, 3,000 HEPA air filters are being installed in classrooms atop the 70,000 currently in schools.
Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy
Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie
Rob Ferguson is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @robferguson1