Teacher tests not fast-tracked

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This article was published 22/09/2020 (1458 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Patients at COVID-19 testing centres are asked if they work in a school before getting their nasal cavities swabbed — but not because teacher results are being fast-tracked.

Since the 2020-21 school year began, there has been confusion amongst Manitoba school staff about the variance in wait times for both positive and negative results. Some have even reported being told at sites their tests would be sped up because of their profession.

The province has confirmed this is not the case: site staff simply ask every Manitoban who shows up to a testing site if they are a transport worker, educator, child care provider or health-care professional.

If they answer “yes” to one of the first three careers, it is noted on the lab order that accompanies the test.

“This information and other similar testing data is collected for the purposes of tracking the presence of COVID-19 in Manitoba,” a provincial spokesperson said Wednesday in a statement to the Free Press.

Only health-care worker samples are marked to identify their tests in order to minimize turnaround time at the lab “wherever possible.”

A resource teacher in the Winnipeg School Division, who did not receive approval from her employer to speak to a reporter, said she was “disappointed” to learn teacher results are not fast-tracked.

Two weeks into the school year, she said her school is already facing challenges finding substitutes for educational assistants who are sick or awaiting testing who work with children with special needs. (She said she has already taken two days off work to await results. It took three days to receive them, and four days to get her partner’s.)

“If it continues this way — the results are taking three or more days to come back — that’s potentially three days where a student with special needs does not have support,” she said.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society made clear its support this summer for rapid testing for teachers. The union has since focused its advocacy on pressuring the province to shrink class sizes and school divisions to separate students by two metres, not the one-metre minimum.

A provincial spokesperson said patients are generally being told they should have their results three days after getting tested either via online portal or phone if negative, or via a call from public health to discuss next steps if they test positive.

It takes between 24-48 hours to process a sample once it reaches the laboratory, the spokesperson said, adding times vary depending on transportation from a site and current testing volumes.

Individuals awaiting tests are being advised to self-isolate until they receive results and have been symptom-free for 24 hours.

Upwards of 170,000 COVID-19 tests have been completed in Manitoba since February.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie