REGINA -- Saskatchewan’s opposition NDP has joined the teachers’ union in calling on the government to make rapid COVID-19 testing available in schools, as the province continues to fail to meet its daily testing goal.
During a press conference on Thursday, the NDP said asymptomatic carriers are transmitting COVID-19 in schools, and rapid testing can help identify those cases and stop them from transmitting.
The NDP said Saskatchewan has not made proper use of its rapid test stockpile, while Manitoba, Alberta, and Ontario have employed a strategic approach to use rapid testing to improve outcomes.
Saskatchewan has received 522,080 rapid tests as of Feb. 10. This includes:
- Abbott ID Now rapid PCR tests (49,920)
- Abbott Panbio rapid antigen tests (372,800)
- BD Veritor rapid antigen tests (99,360)
The province has made use of 11,929 test, or 2.3 per cent of its stock.
“If we want to be able to catch those cases in schools that’s a really good use for rapid testing,” Vicki Mowatt, NDP Health Critic said.
SASK. FAILING TO MEET TESTING GOAL
In September 2020, Saskatchewan said it was working towards providing 4,000 tests per day and in an effort to increase the province’s testing capacity and that new rapid testing options were being added at health care facilities.
By February the province had missed that mark on every day except two, where the SHA tested more than 4,000 people on Nov. 21 and Nov. 30.
Since the start of 2021, Saskatchewan has averaged 2,601 tests per day, which is well short of the province’s target.
The test positivity rate has also increased from 7.47 per cent over the final two months of 2020 to 10.23 per cent over the first 35 days of the new year.
TEACHERS CALL FOR RAPID TESTING IN SCHOOLS
On Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) expressed it its disappointment that teachers were not included in the vaccination priority groups.
The STF pushed the province to implement rapid testing in schools, as a response to not vaccinating teachers with priority groups.
"Any kind of early detection that somebody in the building has COVID is helpful,” Patrick Maze, STF president said on Wednesday. “They’ve had this ability to do rapid testing and batch testing for a while now and it’s more of a concern as to why they wouldn’t have wanted that information to this point."
When asked about the possibility for testing in schools on Tuesday, the Minister of Health said some options are under consideration.
"We’re considering moving out some of our point of care testing to the education,” Paul Merriman, Minister of Health, said. “We do have to have people trained to be able to do it, there is some training requirements, so we’re looking at are the nurses involved that are in the school system, can they be engaged or can we provide some other support in there for them to be able to do some testing."
Saskatchewan has seen more than 75 positive cases in schools since the start of February.
Schools in Regina and Saskatoon have seen the majority of those cases with more than 20 in each city.
Multiple positive cases at Fort Qu’Appelle Elementary and Balcarres Community schools last week forced the Prairie Valley School Division to transition both schools online.
"We do everything we can to keep our schools open, but always balancing that with the need to keep first and foremost the safety and staff as our primary driver," Luke Lerminiaux, director of eduction with the PVSD, said.
