Rapid testing won't reduce parental stress at shuttered London school
London’s Lord Elgin Public School has been closed due to a COVID-19 outbreak and will remain shuttered until next Tuesday.
While it is possible rapid testing of students, which was approved by the province Tuesday, may ease the situation, it’s not the only concern facing the school community.
Many families in the area of Lord Elgin struggle with poverty.
Some rely on social services set up nearby the school to meet basic needs.
Jamie Donaldson has four children attending Lord Elgin. She says it has been a difficult few weeks.
“They eat more, you have to help them with their homework. And I have seven kids, so I have to help four of them.”
Jamie Donaldson, a mother of seven who has four children attending Lord Elgin Public School in London, Ont., speaks Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. (Sean Irvine / CTV News)
Donaldson says two of her children were close contacts to children with confirmed COVID-19 cases at Lord Elgin.
As a result, all of her kids were sent home days before the Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) closed the school.
It’s been a disheartening adjustment for Donaldson’s daughter, Mia, a Grade 7 student.
“I like in-person school.”
But even though online learning presents Donaldson with parental challenges, she says she’d still prefer it to rapid testing.
For her, it is a case of better safe than sorry, adding she doesn’t want to subject her children to testing.
“I rather have children home and struggle for two weeks than have a child who is seriously ill.”
Still, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Kieran Moore, now says voluntary rapid testing of unvaccinated children has benefits.
“Targeted, asymptomatic screening could help detect cases in schools earlier and reduce the risk of ongoing outbreaks or school closures.”
The decision to deploy rapid testing rests with local medical officers of health.
CTV News asked the Middlesex-London Health Unit (MLHU) about the potential deployment of rapid testing at Lord Elgin Public School.
Spokesperson Dan Flaherty indicated the provincial announcement still needs to be processed.
He added senior health officials were not available Tuesday to comment on deploying tests at Lord Elgin.
For its part, the Thames Valley District School Board says it will defer to the direction of health officials.
However, Director of Education Mark Fisher says any “toolbox item" designed to get kids healthily and back to class is positive.
“That helps us get a better handle of a potential outbreak or potential spread to return back to in-person learning as quickly as possible, because we know it is better for our students and teachers to be face-to-face and learning from one another.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.