Toronto parents set up school rapid-testing program as city reports 11 COVID-19 outbreaks

Some Toronto parents havebuilt their own rapid testing programfrom scratch at their children's elementary school finding an Ontario supplier,driving hundreds of kilometres topick up the kits multiple times a month andspreading the news by word of mouth.

So far this school year, their efforts mean 280students at Earl Beatty Junior and Senior Public School, in the city's east end, andsome of their siblingsare participating in thetwice-a-week testing regime, completing close to 1,000 tests to date, said program founder Sam Kaufman, whose eight-year-old son,Asa, is a student at the school.

"The idea of this kind of screening is to catch cases early," Kaufman, a data scientist,told CBC News.

"You may not be able to prevent a classroom from going home, but hopefully you prevent many kids from getting sick and the outbreak getting out of control."

Thetests weredonated by theStay Safe program, a partnership based in the Waterloo region west of Torontothathelps businesses and communities scale uprapid testing.

Kaufman saidhe's frustrated at theOntario government's refusal tospearheadrapid testing efforts in schools,especially as he sees outbreaks mount.The City of Torontoisreporting 11 schools are currently experiencing outbreaks and a Durham Region school has closed for at least two weeks with students going back to online learning.

"I don't understand why we wouldn't use every tool we have to try to keep COVID out of our schools," he said.

School board doesn't support rapid testing

In Toronto, case rateshave also increased forfour- to 11-year-olds in the past few weeks and are now the highest of all age groups for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Eileen de Villa,the city's medical officer of health, tolda board of health meeting on Monday.

The majority of cases are not linked to school transmission but rather toparents and caregivers at home, she said.

Neither Toronto Public Healthnor the province recommend surveillance testing like the program at Earl Beatty, and so it's not supported by theToronto District School Board, said spokesperson Ryan Bird.

Ontario's chief medical officer, Dr. Kieran Moore, told reporters Friday that large-scale antigen testing doesn't significantly limit the spread of COVID-19and can produce false positives thatlead to people gettingunnecessaryPCR tests and burdeninglabs.

"It would be difficult for us to test two million children every day or twice a week or three times a week," Moore said.

However, he said, the province isconsidering using rapid tests in schools where the community rate is high, at more than100 cases per 100,000 people.

The province will also require all school staff not fully vaccinated to regularly complete rapid tests and does supply them to businesses and other workplaces.

An online petitionstarted by parents calling for the province to provide rapid testing toall kids not yeteligible for vaccination has reached 2,000 signatures.

Experts support rapid testing

The rapid antigen tests organized by the parents in Toronto are intended for students who don't have any COVID-19 symptoms or known exposures, said Kaufman. That's different thanthe take-home testing kitsthat threehospitals are supplying across city schools, which are only for kids showing symptoms or who have experienced a high-risk exposure.

The rapid tests, while less reliable,displayresults within 15 minutes at home, according to Stay Safe.

If a student tests positive, parents are advised to report the result to the nearby Michael Garron Hospital and get a lab-based test, Kaufman said.

Dr. Isaac Bogoch,an infectious disease specialistwith Toronto'sUniversity Health Network, is one of many experts who say rapid testing has a role to play in making indoor spaces such asschools safer.

"They're really there to answer the question: 'Am I contagious with the virus right now?'" Bogoch said.

"Of course, they're not perfect, but they're pretty good at doing itand if they were distributed among families, I think we could do a lot of good with those tests."

Kaufmansaid he realizes that unlike the parents involved at his school, who have the time and resources to run the program with help from Stay Safe,those in other communities may need more helpfrom their school boards, public health units or the province to get access tosimilar testing.

He saidevery day he hears from parents across the province and countrywho want to start something similar.

"Notevery parent group who wants these tests can get them," hesaid.

"People can't drive from Ottawa to Waterloo to pick up a test, which is what we're hearing. And even the fact that I have to drive from Toronto to pick up thetests is kind of crazy."

On Tuesday, Communitech, thetech hub that oversees Stay Safe, clarified to CBCKitchener-Waterloothatschool testing doesn't fit within the program's scope.

"I do want to emphasize that the intent of the program is to bring the rapid kits into workplaces, to keep businesses open and workers safe,"said spokespersonMatthew Bondy.

"We will be communicating with stakeholders over the next days that the focus of the program remains on work places, as originally agreed by all parties."