Rapid tests in primary schools | Large-scale deployment in the most affected regions

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In the 10 regions where COVID-19 is particularly present, tens of thousands of rapid tests will be deployed on a large scale over the coming days. Arrived late, will they be able to correct the situation in an already heavily affected school network, with 1,791 students and 175 staff members currently infected?


Louise Leduc

Louise Leduc
Press

A total of 155,000 tests are intended for primary schools in the most affected regions. Since mid-September, 51 schools in Saint-Michel, Parc-Extension and Montreal-Nord, in Montreal, as well as in Chomedey, in Laval, have started testing. In some schools in the Outaouais, the practice is also well established.

At the Montreal School Service Center, as well as on the side of the unions (who had been asking for these tests for months), we are told that things are going well.

“It’s an additional workload, but the results have been positive so far,” notes Éric Gingras, president of the Centrale des unions du Québec.

He indicates that it is the support staff – special education technicians, educators, etc. – who administers the tests, after having followed a short training course and being adequately protected.

These tests done on students are much less invasive than those that Quebecers have undergone so far, the swab barely entering the nose.

Parents have recently filled out a form in which they are asked to say whether they agree with the idea of ​​such tests being done. If their child is tested, they will be notified of the result by letter, whether positive or negative. But if the test is positive, the child will be immediately isolated, and the parents will have to go and get him.

Game-changing tests

Benoit Mâsse, head of the Applied Clinical Research Unit at CHU Sainte-Justine and professor of public health at the University of Montreal, had been calling for such rapid tests in schools for months, even telling Press that it would be a game changer, that it would be a “game changer”.

He still believes it, in principle, “but we start late. Infection in schools will continue throughout the fall. It is only a matter of time for schools that have not yet had outbreaks ”.

Mr. Mâsse observes that the public authorities are cautious here in relation to rapid tests. Much more than Great Britain, for example, where these tests are widely distributed among the population.

“I understand that Public Health in Quebec is concerned that people associate a negative rapid test with proof of non-infection,” he said.

Only the PCR test can indeed confirm an infection, but tests such as those distributed in schools have the advantage of determining who is contagious now.

The PCR test, on the other hand, is so sensitive that even a non-contagious person (after having had the disease several days earlier) can continue to receive a positive result.

In interview at Press Tuesday, the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, said, him, that this fall return is going much better than that of January. “We are in a better position. “

The rapid tests were sent to the various school service centers at the start of the week of August 30, says Roberge’s office.

Kathleen Legault, president of the Montreal Association of School Directions, fears that carrying out the tests will add pressure to the already overwhelmed staff. She believes that “financial incentives” should be put in place.

Ditto for Sylvain Mallette, president of the Autonomous Federation of Education. “The majority of teachers are delighted with the implementation of rapid tests in schools to curb outbreaks and closures, but they would have liked this measure to be accompanied by additional resources to administer the tests. “

1245

Number of schools with one or more positive cases reported with diagnosis since August 23, 2021

860

Number of schools with one or more active positive cases

2

Number of schools closed or partially closed

Source: Québec.ca, dated Tuesday, September 28

Call to all

Has there been a positive case of COVID-19 in your child’s classroom since the start of the 2021 school year? Was the school able to give you clear directions for what to do next? Has your child had to isolate himself?

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