WINDSOR, ONT. -- Ontario's Ministry of Education wants asymptomatic testing of staff and students available starting "the week" of Feb. 22, according to school board officials in Windsor-Essex.
And yet, both say they are still in the planning stages of the plan.
Will testing start next week at the Greater Essex District School Board?
"I sincerely hope so, I’m working towards that" says Sharon Pyke, GECDSB superintendent and COVID lead.
Pyke does say they still working with the health unit and ministry to identify which schools should be offered testing first.
And she says they also must meet with a third-party vendor to iron out all the details of the program.
"Consent form collection, making appointments, setting up schedule with the school, the associated school. All that will be finished, will be completed by the vendor," says Pyke
School boards must offer voluntary asymptomatic testing to staff and students in five per cent of their schools.
At local public board, that equates to three schools per week.
Pyke says they must also offer it to two per cent of their board population, but she says they have asked for clarification from the ministry if that includes students who are currently learning online and not in the school setting.
The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board must offer the testing to two schools every week, in order to meet the provincial expectation.
COVID Lead at WECDSB, Melissa Farrand, says the test site will look very similar to a blood donor clinic.
"Our preference would be to have the clinics take place either on the weekend or after school and not during school hours, we do not want it to be disruptive to our students and to our staff," she says.
Farrand too says they are currently still working on identifying which schools will offer testing, and when, in conjunction with the Windsor Essex County Health Unit.
Both say they want to be able to give parents of students, and their staff members plenty of time to make the personal decision about whether or not to get a COVID test.
"These testings will continue to be voluntary," says Dr. Wajid Ahmed, WECHU medical officer of health, which is working with the school boards to decide on which schools should offer the tests.
Dr. Ahmed says "there’s not enough evidence to suggest" that voluntary, asymptomatic testing of children will be helpful in fighting the virus, although it would uncover Covid cases sooner.
Dr. Ahmed and both school board COVID lead superintendents continue to stress, the testing in schools is and always will be voluntary for all staff and students.
There have been four COVID-19 cases among staff and students at the WECDSB and GECDSB, leading to the dismissal of four cohorts.
All schools remain open and there are no current school outbreaks in the region.
