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Best Practices

Lambton County opens student-only assessment centres

A county in southwestern Ontario has opened COVID-19 testing sites dedicated to school children, in order to reduce the waiting time kids have for test results.
By: Heather Marie Connors
September 25, 2020
Photo: The Canadian Press

Parents in Ontario are currently required to keep kids home if they are sick, and obtain a negative test result before sending them back to school. Recognizing there was going to be a surge in demand for tests, Lambton County established two by-appointment assessment centres dedicated to children, just as schools reopened.

“We knew there would be this increased demand for testing, we knew there would be a bunch of kids with mild illness, and we tried to be a little bit proactive and a little bit innovative about how we can handle it,” said Dr. Sudit Ranade, medical officer of health for the county.

The Lambton County region has low transmission of COVID-19, and assessment centres that are small and spread throughout the region. These conditions meant that establishing student-only sites would benefit the county, by increasing access to tests and decreasing the wait time for kids, helping them get back into classrooms faster.

The testing sites have been very busy, according to Dr. Ranade, and the response from parents has been positive.

Source: CityNews

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