The province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health has announced that the rapid COVID testing program in the K-12 system is being discontinued effective immediately.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says new COVID cases are dropping in Newfoundland and Labrador and studies suggest that once cases decrease, there is a greater risk of false-positive results.
For that reason, says Fitzgerald, rapid tests are less useful when the number of cases in the community is low.
Public Health supplied all schools and child care services with a significant supply of rapid test kits this year for use by students, staff and their families.
Those with kits are being asked to continue to use their remaining tests appropriately, and only use them when testing is necessary.
Public Health officials are continuing to explore options for rapid test distribution, especially in the case of a future surge in COVID cases.
Information on the plans for rapid tests for the 2022-23 school year will be released later this summer.