Richmond School District is partnering with BC Children’s Hospital to give students quick access to COVID-19 testing kits in the upcoming week.
Students in the Richmond School District who show symptoms of COVID-19 while at school will be offered a ”swish and gargle” rapid test kit to take home, according to a school district letter sent to families on April 16.
While the test is completely optional, parents will still be contacted to pick up their child from school regardless.
The gargle tests can be done at home and parents can drop off the collection sample at a local LifeLabs location or at BC Children’s Hospital.
The saline mouth-rinse and gargle method, was introduced in September 2020 as a more comfortable testing alternative for children compared to the regular nasopharyngeal swabs.
“Parents and children should still monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 before students go to school. If children have any symptoms, they should stay home and parents should arrange to have their child tested at a location in the community.”
Since January 2021, there have been about 46 exposure cases at various schools in Richmond.
However, Richmond School District Superintendent Scott Robinson noted earlier this month that while there have been exposures, there have been no known transmissions of COVID-19 so far in Richmond schools.
According to BC School Covid Tracker, a Facebook group tracking COVID-19 cases in B.C. schools, there have been 5,524 cases of COVID-19 exposures in 1,191 schools across the province as of April 20.
-with files from Megan Lalonde/Vancouver is Awesome
