COVID-19 rapid tests are going to be used in two schools in Calgary to help battle outbreaks.
On Thursday morning, Alberta Minister of Education Adriana LaGrange along with Alberta Minister of Health Tyler Shandro and Alberta Chief Medical Officer of Health Deena Hinshaw announced that two Calgary schools would be running a pilot project as they are currently experiencing outbreaks. Right now, it is unknown what schools will be participating.
The tests will be run on students and staff who are not experiencing any symptoms. Staff and the students’ parents will have to sign a consent form to participate in the pilot and the program will be voluntary.
LaGrange said the province is hoping to learn if rapid testing can help manage outbreaks.
“We know rapid testing may offer a close-to-real-time check on the situation in an entire school experiencing an outbreak,” LaGrange said.
“The pilot will evaluate the benefit of using these tests to reduce the risk of transmission in schools.”
The minister said the rapid testing program can allow for students and staff to be tested during the day without disruption to their daily routines. It can take as little as 15 minutes to get the results of a rapid test.
“We also want to determine if rolling out these screening tests on-site is practical in a school environment,” LaGrange.
Rapid testing has been rolling out in different areas of the province over the past few months. Some 325,000 tests have been sent to Suncor, Syncrude and CNRL; another 267,000 are in long term care, designated supportive living and hospice facilities; 100,000 will be available for the pilot program offering the tests in schools; 100,000 are available in rural and remote hospitals, assessment centres and other health care sites; 76,000 are going to WestJet; and 56,000 are going to various other industries and groups across the province.
“Rapid tests mean that we can find more people infected with COVID sooner, even when they don't have symptoms, and so we can get them into isolation earlier and sooner,” Shandro said.
The rapid test would still need to be sent to a lab to confirm the result.
Hinshaw said rapid testing is very useful when frequently testing a particular population over time but the test isn’t as sensitive as other kinds of tests the province uses.
“This allows it to function as a red light test. What I mean by that is it can be used to ensure people who test positive get a red light stop signal and don't enter a particular workplace or community."
Since February, rapid tests have been shipped to all 366 AHS-contracted long-term care and designated supportive living sites. Rapid screening supports – but does not replace – other health measures in place at each facility.
All other licensed supportive living accommodations for seniors and other Albertans are being offered rapid tests to protect anyone living and working within these facilities. Health officials are reviewing applications and expect to ship thousands of additional devices in the next few weeks.
The tests will also be going to Cargill High River’s screening program over the next few months and discussions are underway to provide tests to other interested meat-processing plants to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Read more from StAlbertToday.ca
