Rapid tests will soon be deployed in schools in Chaudière-Appalaches, but not in those in the Capitale-Nationale.
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Quebec yesterday informed stakeholders in the school environment that rapid tests will first be used in the ten regions where wearing a mask is compulsory in class due to the epidemiological situation which is more worrying there. La Capitale-Nationale is not one of them. In Chaudière-Appalaches, since September 10, the wearing of a mask at all times is required in schools in three RCMs: Les Appalaches, Beauce-Sartigan and Les Etchemins.
In this region, COVID-19 is present in 34 schools, but no class is closed. Students who have been in contact with a positive case can return to class if their screening test is negative, while still wearing the mask.
Tests for symptoms
Over the next few weeks, rapid tests will be available in schools in these three Chaudière-Appalaches RCMs in order to screen for students who develop symptoms during the day.
However, public health authorities are asking parents to keep their child at home and to go to a screening center if he has symptoms in the morning, before the start of classes.
The rapid test screening will be done by school personnel who have been trained to do a shallow nasal swab inside the nostril, it is explained. The result will be available in 15 minutes. At the beginning of the week, school principals denounced the “chaotic” deployment of rapid tests in schools in Montreal and Laval, which was done in an improvised fashion, according to their representatives.
To prevent such a situation from reoccurring, the Fédération québécoise des principals d’laboratoires (FQDE) requests that training be given in all schools in the province, including those where the wearing of a mask is not possible. not compulsory, like the Capitale-Nationale.
“We want to ensure that we are ready everywhere so that we can put the process in motion quickly when necessary in order to avoid class closures,” says its president, Nicolas Prévost.
In the Capitale-Nationale, active cases of COVID-19 are present in 23 schools, while five classes are closed due to an outbreak, according to data from school service centers. When a young person tests positive, all students in the school must wear the mask in class for 10 days.
– With the collaboration of Elisa Cloutier.
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