Chief medical officer, Dr. Deena Hinshaw recommended Alberta’s 90,000 teachers and school staff get tested for COVID-19 before schools reopen, during a press conference Wednesday, August 12.
Dr. Hinshaw also encouraged Albertans not exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, and with no known exposure, to postpone testing until after September 1 to expedite results.
“This is entirely voluntary. However, asymptomatic testing of staff in school settings will help us with a baseline understanding for school re-entry and ultimately help us even more closely monitor the virus in the coming year,” Dr. Hinshaw said during the conference.
Despite expansion and improvement of publicly available testing, Dr. Hinshaw noted current testing capacity would not be able to process tests for school staff and teachers at once. She encouraged staff to be proactive about testing and not wait until the day before schools reopen.
Michael Kilcommons, associate superintendent for Christ the Redeemer Catholic School Division said, “We are not in a position to mandate. However, we have told staff we strongly support this decision.”
Kilcommons added Christ the Redeemer will encourage staff to get tested prior to classes resuming in September, and continue with regular testing throughout the year.
Focus has been on teachers and staff in direct contact with others, though they are not the only ones encouraged to get tested; staff not in direct contact with others, including administrators and custodians, are also included in the recommendation.
Students with pre-existing conditions with symptoms similar to COVID-19, such as seasonal allergies, should also be tested.
Parents can book these tests through Alberta Health Services (AHS) while those with no symptoms and no known contact are permitted to utilize testing through either AHS or participating pharmacies across Alberta.
“We think these recommendations are a good assurance for parents that staff has been checked, and an assurance for staff coming back as well,” superintendent for Golden Hills School Division Bevan Daverne told the Mail.
Daverne noted for those experiencing seasonal allergies or summer colds, which have similar symptoms, “testing is a proactive way to assure symptoms are not a risk.”
He added staff and teachers of all Golden Hills schools will be made aware of the new recommendations and will be encouraged to get tested before September.
Ongoing testing is recommended throughout the year to keep on top of any potential outbreaks. Any school with two or more cases will be considered to have an outbreak, though it will not necessarily lead to immediate closures.
As of August 13 more than 647,000 Albertans have been tested for COVID-19, with an average of almost 8,000 tests per day.
