(File photo/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Elliott Knopp

Rapid Testing

Northwest School Division set to receive COVID-19 rapid tests from Saskatchewan government

Mar 26, 2021 | 2:34 PM

Schools in the Meadow Lake area are expecting to receive an unspecified quantity of COVID-19 rapid antigen tests from the provincial government. This comes as part of the province’s new measure that will see schools across Saskatchewan receive 100,000 rapid tests as early as next week.

The Northwest School Division is currently working with the government on a solution as to how the tests will be used. In a press release, the Government of Saskatchewan stated the School Testing Deployment Plan for COVID-19 is being implemented by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

Northwest School Division communications officer Kaitlin Harman told meadowlakeNOW that the school division is looking to solve some confidentiality concerns before submitting their strategy to the government for approval.

“Right now, we are in the process of creating our plan and submitting it to the SHA and the Ministry of Education to get their approval,” Harman said. “There are definitely some details to iron out. We want to make sure we are in compliance with any privacy issues or anything like that because it is people’s health information, so there are definitely some concerns that have to be addressed before we move forward.”

In the release, the government added it does not expect teachers and school staff to administer tests. The tests use a short nasal swab to collect samples and can only be administered by people who have completed the SHA’s training program. Schools are expected to collaborate with local medical health officers to come to a consensual agreement on when testing is appropriate.

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Any rapid tests that receive a positive result will require confirmation by a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test provided by the Saskatchewan Health Authority. Negative results don’t need to be confirmed if the individual doesn’t display COVID-19 symptoms.

The Northwest School Division is expecting to have a distribution plan in place sometime in the upcoming weeks.

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Elliott.Knopp@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @ElliottKnopp