Take-home COVID-19 test kits given to 64 Ottawa schools – CBC

63 more publicly-funded schools enrolled for home kits next week, according to Dr. Ken Farion

Sep 09, 2021

Health officials in Ottawa want to increase access to COVID-19 testing with take-home kits offered to students and staff, starting with 64 schools in the city.

Ottawa Public Health (OPH) has partnered with CHEO, eastern Ontario’s children’s hospital in Ottawa, to roll out the first phase of the project this week with 63 more schools enrolled for next week, according to Dr. Ken Farion, the operations lead on the Ottawa COVID-19 Testing Taskforce.

Farion says the goal is to have all publicly-funded schools in Ottawa involved in the program as soon as possible, and then hopefully expand to private schools.

“We want to support those families and make sure that they’re able to access testing when they need testing,” said Farion.

The test kits will be offered to students and staff who develop symptoms of COVID-19 or are identified as a high-risk contact.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-schools-getting-take-home-covid-test-kits-1.6168470