‘Test-to-stay’ programs coming to Ontario schools to keep kids in class when COVID cases arise
The province is starting a test-to-stay" program in schools to prevent entire classes and schools from shutting down when COVID-19 cases arise, expanding the availability of take-home nasal swab tests and also telling unvaccinated education staff they now must provide three negative rapid tests a week in order to remain on the job.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce made the announcement Thursday at Queen's Park, saying the province is expanding its arsenal to prevent students from unnecessarily missing class when cases are uncovered.
Ontario is the first province in Canada to provide take-home PCR tests for all students and staff, and expands on a program launched earlier this month in dozens of high schools in hot spots, and for fully vaccinated, asymptomatic students. Now, both elementary and secondary students will have access, regardless of their vaccination status.
The tests could be used when students are exposed to COVID - or parents can pick up one up at school to bring home to test their kids if they wake up with a fever or cough, and then drop off at a community location for quick return
While Ontario schools are safer places to learn supported by enhanced ventilation and high vaccine rates, we are taking nothing for granted," Lecce said in a written statement.
By expanding access to testing and helping to better screen against COVID-19, we are keeping our schools safer for students and helping to limit disruption to the school year. These additional efforts build on the extensive safety protocols and investments we have made to protect schools, including the more than $600 million our government has provided to support ventilation improvements."
Since the pandemic hit, Ontario students have been out of class more than any others in the country. Both Lecce and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore have said keeping schools open is a priority this year.
The PCR tests will be provided to schools in mid-November, and can be used for close contacts of COVID cases.
The rapid tests, used as part of the test-to-stay" plan, could see staff and students in a class or school with COVID cases given a kit of five tests to be taken every other day - the number and frequency to help address concerns of false negatives. Such tests are not meant for those who are considered high-risk contacts of confirmed COVID cases.
Anyone with a positive result would have to then get the PCR nasal-swab test, which is sent to a lab.
Providing take-home PCR testing for students is another tool to protect our kids and keep schools open and safe by limiting the spread of COVID-19," Moore said in a written statement.
While we are reassured that COVID-19 transmission in schools remains low, we must remain vigilant and ready to respond to outbreaks driven by the Delta variant."
Lecce also announced that unvaccinated school staff, who are currently taking two tests a week on their own time, will now have to provide proof of three each week.
The province has yet to mandate vaccinations for school staff, though some boards have gone ahead on their own and done so, including the Toronto District School Board which recently extended its deadline to mid-December to do so.
Some jurisdictions in the United States have piloted test-to-stay" programs, including Georgia and Massachusetts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is evaluating their effectiveness.
In Georgia, one school district says it has kept 97 per cent of kids in class with the frequent rapid testing, rather than having to dismiss everyone to learn from home online.
Dr. Irfan Dhalla, co-chair of a federal advisory panel on COVID-19 testing and screening, has previously told the Star that rapid antigen tests are a valuable component of a multi-component strategy" and something his panel had suggested this year.
If there is a single case in a school, close contacts should get PCR testing, but then rapid tests could be provided to every other child in the school or their parents and they might find some transmission that they didn't previously know about," Dhalla, a vice-president at Unity Health Toronto, has also said.
Kristin Rushowy is a Toronto-based reporter covering Ontario politics for the Star. Follow her on Twitter: @krushowy