‘Urgent action’: NDP calls for COVID rapid testing to be deployed to schools immediately

With a COVID-19 variant spreading in Regina, the Saskatchewan NDP is calling for rapid testing to be deployed to schools immediately.

About three weeks ago, Premier Scott Moe got in front of the province and admitted Saskatchewan was sitting on hundreds of thousands of rapid tests and they should have been deployed sooner. Moe said they would be sent out to places like police services, dental offices and schools.

However, the NDP’s Carla Beck said Thursday that, as far as she’s aware, no schools have received them.

“This is not a wait-and-see moment. This is not a time for hesitant language. It’s a time to show some leadership on the part of the government and get those tests out the door and get that support to the school divisions,” said Beck.

As of Thursday morning, there had been 30 cases identified and reported in 19 Regina schools since Friday evening.

Beck said with the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant in Regina, the situation is urgent and the stakes are much higher.

“I’m incredibly frustrated that it’s now in the middle of this outbreak of the variant that we’re still seeing this government drag their feet to get these tests out the door,” said Beck.

To be able to deal with COVID and the new variant, Beck said schools need clearer guidance from the decision-makers, and need to know more about what’s going on with cases.

“We really would like to see that support and that testing get out to schools as soon as possible so that we can avoid people getting sick with this variant and we can also avoid further lockdowns,” explained Beck.

Health Minister Paul Merriman said during a media conference later Thursday the ministries of health and education were working with the Saskatchewan School Boards Association to make sure schools “have all of the tools needed” to fight COVID — and that includes getting the rapid tests to them.

However, Merriman couldn’t say whether any tests had been distributed to schools as of yet.

“Some of the school divisions have expressed interest in this, but they have to have somebody there to be able to administer the test,” he said. “It has to be done a proper way, otherwise we could get a false negative or a false positive.”