In a news release, the Ontario government revealed its plan to support access to voluntary, rapid asymptomatic screening for unvaccinated children and students.
According to the government, improving access to rapid antigen screening for asymptomatic unvaccinated students will help keep schools and licensed child care settings open and safe.
“By improving ventilation in Ontario schools and taking further action through the introduction of a targeted rapid antigen screening program, we are helping to keep schools safer and open,” said Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education.
The government did not address whether students, unvaccinated or otherwise, are even at risk from COVID-19. Instead, the government says it is implementing these measures to “help identify and prevent transmission in schools and licensed child care settings.”
“Targeted asymptomatic screening has the potential to detect cases in schools earlier and reduce the risk of outbreaks and closures, particularly in communities across the province that have a high prevalence of active COVID-19 cases,” said Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health. “Expanding access to rapid antigen screening may be another way to help keep schools safer and students in the classroom.”
Moreover, the government says it does not recommend routine rapid antigen screen of fully vaccinated individuals and children, as there could be “risks posed to the disruption of learning as a result of false positives.”
It is not clear what the psychological effects of being singled out for testing by the government will have on unvaccinated children’s mental health — not to mention the government readily admits that false positives happen, which ultimately defeats the purpose of testing asymptomatic children.
