An infectious-disease physician at SickKids said the relationship between the education and health care systems to provide COVID-19 tests to families was important at the height of the pandemic and can continue to be a support.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
More than a dozen Toronto schools have signed up for “spit kits,” a Hospital for Sick Children initiative that allows students to test for viruses at the onset of cold and flu season.
The SickKids Saliva Testing Program was launched this academic year and is an expansion of the take-home testing program that began in September, 2020, to test for COVID-19.
School administrators are armed with take-home saliva viral tests that they can offer to symptomatic students and staff. The completed tests are then delivered to a lab to screen for influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and COVID-19.
Michelle Science, an infectious-disease physician at SickKids, said the relationship between the education and health care systems to provide COVID-19 tests to families was important at the height of the pandemic. This ongoing relationship “can potentially help with future pandemic preparedness if we have another virus that comes out, and we want to implement this,” she said.
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Fifteen Toronto schools have signed up so far, and Dr. Science said others have expressed interest in joining the testing program, which has received research funding so doctors can monitor how it’s working.
The spit kits, as she calls them, involve symptomatic students or staff members simply releasing saliva into a tube through a funnel. They return the tube to the school’s main office, where a courier picks up the samples daily and takes them to a lab.
Dr. Science said the lab is usually able to provide the results in 24 hours.
COVID-19 is currently circulating in the community, while RSV and influenza season typically starts around November or December. RSV and influenza made headlines in the fall and winter of 2022-23 when the number of infections surged over the previous year, as pandemic restrictions were eased. Pediatric hospitals struggled with the volume of young patients with viral infections.
Dr. Science said that by providing schools with testing kits and information now, it will allow them to better prepare for when viruses begin circulating.
Marlene Calligan, the principal at Toronto’s Humbercrest Public School, said she has about 100 kits in her main office for students and staff to use. Dr. Science visited her school recently at curriculum night to speak with families about the testing program.
“I’m a mother myself, and just having that opportunity to be able to test not only for COVID but also RSV and influenza, I hoped that my community would be interested in trying it,” Ms. Calligan said.
The school has about 560 students. Ms. Calligan said COVID-19 rapid tests were made available to students during the height of the pandemic.
She said that having the new testing kits in her office doesn’t take a lot of effort on the part of school administrators, but it could potentially help families.
“We’re coming out of a pandemic, and I think there’s still interest out there in terms of knowing about the viruses that are circulating within our city,“ she said. ”This is just one way to make it accessible to families.”