There have been repeated calls for more access to rapid test kits to save the school year

BY PAUL JUNOR

The launch of a petition about three weeks ago by Dr Kashif Pirzada called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to deploy rapid tests in schools across Canada.

The petition, which can be seen at change.org states, “Rapid tests, which are cheap, and can give a result in minutes, are a critical tool to keep our kids safe until they can be safely vaccinated. COVID-19 vaccines are now available across the country for most school-age children. They can keep schools open and prevent a disruption to our children’s education. However, calls are growing for rapid tests to be used more frequently to detect cases of COVID to prevent outbreaks in schools. If you agree that rapid tests should be used in more schools across the country, sign the petition.”

At the time that the petition was launched, vaccines were not authorized for children between the ages of 5 to 11. On Friday, October 29^th, 2021, the FDA paved the way for children in this age range to receive Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and Health Canada followed a week later. The petition mentioned that rapid tests are being commonly used in many places across both Canada and the United States.

For example, Earl Beatty Junior and Senior Public School in Toronto performed asymptomatic testing in which over 250 kids are tested twice a week. This is a volunteer, community-led initiative that is not affiliated with the Toronto District School Board or Toronto Public Health. StaySafe offers rapid antigen workplace screening tests as a project in which 500,000 tests were distributed. It came to an end on October 31^st, 2021. Rapid tests are available from the Red Cross, Pop-up Free distribution sites and other places.

The petition states that there are three things that the government needs to do:

1. Get enough tests to test to test every schoolchild 2 -3 times per week.
2. Redirect tests for businesses to use in schools.
3. Grassroots organization: let volunteer groups help; there are more than enough willing people out there. It’s easy to train people to do the tests as well.

The petition lists four specific reasons to perform the rapid tests in kids, which are:

1. 1 out of 50 can get long COVID-19 -symptoms including fatigue, learning difficulties, and breathing problems. These could be lifelong problems, no one knows yet.
2. Nearly 1/100 are being hospitalized, according to the American Academy of Paediatrics.

3. 1/43 adolescents who get COVID-19 can get Myocarditis (heart inflammation) Roughly 100X more than with the vaccine.

4. 1/300 risk of MIS-C- a serious inflammatory disease that requires ICU care with a high mortality rate.

In Ontario, the provincial government has provided rapid COVID-19 at-home tests to students to use over the winter holidays. In Toronto, the Toronto District School Board has provided over 250,000 rapid antigen test kits to students. Initially, it was intended for only students who were learning in-person and unvaccinated staff. There have been repeated calls for more access to rapid test kits by many people.