EMSB rolling out rapid test pilot project to four local elementary schools

Montreal -

Four English elementary schools in Montreal will participate in a pilot project to do rapid testing on students who experience symptoms related to COVID-19.

St. Raphael Elementary School and Sinclair Laird Elementary School in Park Extension, Our Lady of Pompei Elementary School in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, and Gerald McShane Elementary School in Montreal North will be part of the pilot project “once the necessary training is completed,” the English Montreal School Board announced in a media release on Thursday.

The tests will be done on kids with symptoms during the day and priority will be given in “high-transmission areas.”

Before the tests are done, parents will be asked for permission by completing a consent form.

The release said additional schools will be equipped with rapid tests in late October.

Rapid testing is ramping up across schools in Quebec during the fourth wave of the pandemic since only youth 12 and older are currently eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Already this week, two Montreal schools had to be completely shut down due to an outbreak of infections.

More than 500 students were sent home from the Sainte-Odile Elementary School, located on Depatie Street in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, after an undisclosed number of students became infected. The École Saint-Émile in Rosemont was also closed this week.

Recently, the Quebec government announced it would expand rapid testing to 10 regions across the province as the demand for testing kits increases.