Please note, Public Health has provided updated instructions and now recommends swabbing both the throat and nostril. These updated instructions have been included with the kits that will be distributed.
We’re pleased to welcome all students and staff back to in-person learning as school is the best place for students’ emotional, social, physical, and intellectual well-being and development.
In consultation with Public Health, we have implemented enhanced Public Health measures to support the safety of staff and students and to support public health efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. These are many of the same measures that have been and were in place in schools last school year.
This week all schools will have a supply of COVID-19 rapid testing kits available to provide staff and students following the advice below:
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses like the flu, please complete the daily COVID-19 checklist before attending school and stay home if you are feeling unwell or if you have symptoms of COVID-19. If a student or staff is feeling unwell or develops symptoms of COVID-19, they should be sent home and offered a COVID-19 rapid test. They should test again 48 hours after the first test and follow the isolation guidance available in the decision tree online: https://backtoschool.ednet.ns.ca/kidcovidtest. In addition, if a barrier to access is identified by students or staff, principals can distribute a rapid testing kit.
The week of January 24, Public Health advises that they anticipate increased supply and therefore they will be providing more tests to all students and staff. Given the potential for ongoing COVID-19 exposures in schools, students and staff may choose to test up to twice per week regardless of symptoms. Test kits will be replenished on a regular basis as supply allows.
Please be advised that Public Health does not recommend testing for people who have recovered from COVID-19 within the past 90 days. Students or staff who have recently recovered from COVID-19 are encouraged to decline the school tests. If symptoms develop in these people, within the 3-month period, they should stay home until the symptoms have improved and have no fever for at least 24 hours.
Sincerely,
Paul Ash
SSRCE Regional Executive Director