COVID-19 testing will be key to reopening schools: epidemiologist
Posted February 1, 2021 10:39 pm.
Experts are urging aggressive COVID-19 testing in schools, if those in Ontario’s hotspots are to open safely again.
Education minister Stephen Lecce promised on social media to “provide certainty parents deserve” by announcing Wednesday when schools in the GTHA and the rest of the province can open for in-person learning.
“We want all students in all regions back to class,” Lecce said in a tweet.
We want all students in all regions back to class.
The Chief Medical Officer of Health confirmed to Premier @fordnation & I that on Wednesday he will finalize his advice.
The Government will provide certainty parents deserve by announcing on Wednesday the dates for reopening.
— Stephen Lecce (@Sflecce) February 1, 2021
Colin Furness, an expert in infectious disease epidemiology from the University of Toronto, told 680 NEWS universal testing in schools will be key to preventing students and teachers from bringing the virus home.
“Every kid needs to get tested,” Furness said. “Every time you find a positive, you’ve also found an infected family. This is how we can control transmission.”
Abbott Panbio antigen test would be ‘acceptable’
The province plans to expand asymptomatic testing in schools and will have the capacity to process up to 50,000 test per week, but did not say when it expects to reach that number.
Furness said the Panbio COVID-19 antigen rapid test, which provides quick results, could be used in the classroom.
The Panbio test is currently being used in long-term care homes, retirement homes, hospitals, and workplaces such as Ontario Power Generation, Air Canada and Magna.
“It’s not as high sensitivity as a PCR, but this is a screening tool. This is not diagnostic,” said Furness.” “In other words, we’re going to give it to perhaps millions of kids and we’re going to find thousands of cases and that’s how we get out of COVID. We’re not going to catch every case. That would be good enough.”
Furness acknowledges the Panbio test is a nasopharyngeal swab, which he said would be a lot to ask of young children.
“I would rather go the saliva route, but if it has to be either deep nose swab or no testing, I would go for the testing.”
Concerns over new coronavirus variants
As for how we keep newly emerging variants of concern out of the classroom, Furness believes current restrictions on international travel must remain in place.
“It’s hard to imagine keeping schools open at all if we’re having people coming into Pearson with the new variant.”