BSD promises full compliance with new rapid testing system

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This article was published 16/10/2021 (1459 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Brandon School Division is primed and ready to roll out the province’s new COVID-19 rapid testing policy on Monday, according to Supt. Mathew Gustafson.

In a Friday morning interview with the Sun, Gustafson promised that all of the division’s roughly 1,600 employees — which includes teaching and support staff — will be either fully vaccinated against the novel coronavirus or will start undergoing regular testing by the start of next week.

“We will follow the intent of the public health orders to full compliance,” the superintendent said over the phone. “There will be no situation where somebody would either refuse to provide proof of vaccination or undergo frequent testing … and still be allowed in our schools.”

This new rapid testing standard was announced late last month by the province, and is being applied to a variety of public-sector employees as of Monday, including those working in health care, child care or any other type of job that involves looking after vulnerable populations.

While government representatives couldn’t get into the nuts and bolts of how this policy would be applied at every single workplace, Gustafson was able to provide the Sun with some insight into the BSD’s official method of administering rapid tests to its employees who aren’t fully vaccinated.

For one thing, the superintendent revealed that every unvaccinated employee will need to provide a negative test three times a week, including one supervised test at a central location on Tuesday evening.

The remaining two tests can be completed at home, although the results must be submitted between Thursday evening and Friday morning and Sunday evening and Monday morning, respectively.

“That guarantees that every individual will have a negative test within 48 hours,” Gustafson said.

The superintendent also clarified that BSD will be using the BD Veritor antigen test kits to start, since the province has provided them with a supply that will last until mid-December.

While the province is footing the bill for this supply, Gustafson admitted the division will have to cover some shipping and administrative costs to administer these tests, although this can be paid through BSD’s Safe Schools funding.

In terms of how many BSD employees will need to undergo this rapid testing routine starting next week, Gustafson said he can’t reveal those numbers due to privacy concerns.

Gustafson said he also couldn’t disclose the division’s overall staff vaccination rate for the same reason.

Elsewhere in the province, the vaccination rate for the Louis Riel and River East Transcona school divisions in Winnipeg is 97 per cent, according to recent reporting from the Winnipeg Free Press.

Around 88 per cent of the Hanover School Division staff — much of which is located in a health district where community uptake of two doses among eligible residents is under 50 per cent — had provided proof of full immunization status as of Thursday.

Gustafson remains confident that his employees will similarly do the right thing, since they’ve already taken on every new hurdle that has emerged throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our staff have demonstrated a lot of resilience and they’re highly motivated and professional and always have the students’ best interests at heart,” he said.

“So I would say they’ve risen to those challenges and have been quite creative and diligent in trying to meet the expectations to keep our students safe.”

Of course, Gustafson also mentioned that unvaccinated employees will be subject to disciplinary action if they refuse to abide by the province’s new rapid testing policy.

And while the rollout of this testing infrastructure will be logistically challenging for his administration, Gustafson said they will find a way to make it work.

“We’re confident in our process and … we’ve done contingency planning, so we should be able to adapt to any challenges that come up,” he said.

BSD officials are responsible for managing 24 different schools that have a combined student population of around 9,500 pupils.

— With files from the Winnipeg Free Press

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