Dormitory students to be tested again for reopening schools
The Minister for Health, Frank Anthony
Kaieteur News – Students occupying dormitories will be required to have a COVID-19 test done again as they return for the new school term tomorrow.
This was announced by the Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony during his COVID-19 update on Thursday, December 31.
In light of the formal resumption of tomorrow’s classes for the new school term, the Health Minister said that it is mandatory for dormitory students to be tested so that the Ministry can ensure that they do not carry the virus. This is because many of them have returned home for the holidays, including two regions known to have many COVID-19 cases.
According to Dr. Anthony, once they test negative for the virus, they will be put in the school’s general dormitory but if they test positive, they will be isolated from the rest of the school population.
Students will be tested using a Polymerase Chain Reaction Kit (PCR) and antigen test kits, sent by the government.
Mechanisms have also been put in place to send the test samples of PCR test takers to the laboratory at Georgetown and the results will be sent back to the different regions.
Anthony further revealed that Regional Health Officers and Regional Education Officers had been employed to develop plans for the different regions.
This, he said, is part of the collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education as it relates to school reopening.
Schools physically reopened on November 9 last year after being closed since March due to the pandemic.
In the Official Gazette of COVID-19 measures for November, the Ministry of Health approved the physical reopening of schools conditionally for Grades 10, 11, 12 and Technical and Vocational Education.
One of the conditions for reopening was for all dormitory students to be tested for COVID-19 so that the government can know their COVID-19 status and possibly prevent the virus from spreading among the student population.
It was revealed that many of the student-associated infections came from hinterland communities that were well known COVID-19 hotspots. Since schools reopened physically, over 30 students have tested for the virus, as previously reported by Kaieteur News.
In addition, many were said to be disproportionate.