The Ontario government is taking another step to keep students safe and schools open.
Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore made the announcement Tuesday morning.
The province will support the implementation of rapid COVID-19 tests in specific schools and licensed childcare centres on the direction of the local medical officer of health.
The rollout will begin next week.
Dr. Moore says the program is geared to hotspots where risk of transmission is high and where vaccination rates are low among students. The Thunder Bay and Northwestern Health Units have not previously been classified as hotspots.
The rapid antigen screening will be used only for unvaccinated, asymptomatic students and children who are not high-risk contacts.
He says routine rapid screening of fully vaccinated individuals and children is not currently recommended given the effectiveness of the vaccines.
