Parent Letter: Holiday Screening Program
December 17, 2021
To all parents and guardians:
Re: Holiday Screening Program
As we approach the holiday break, we know that many families are planning to travel and visit loved ones – many that we haven’t seen for a long time. It is important to remember that the COVID-19 pandemic continues, and with the spread of the new Omicron variant in Canada, we need to put safety nets in place to ensure that students can return to school and activities in January with minimal risk of a COVID-19 outbreak.
For this reason, many schools in the NWT are opting to send students home with a COVID-19 self-test kit before the holiday break begins. These kits can be used on your own and are useful for detecting COVID-19 in people with no symptoms. Even vaccinated people can be infected and spread COVID-19, but they are much less likely get sick from it. Checking regularly for COVID-19 in healthy people will help us stop the spread of the virus to others in the community who may get very sick if infected.
By using a test before your child returns to school, you will be helping to keep classrooms and communities safer. We recommend using a test the day before your child is returning to school or activities. If additional tests are provided they can be used at any time.
The program is completely voluntary. If you and your family do not want to use it, you can simply refuse or return the test kit, or share it with someone that would like the testing option. There will be no consequences for individuals or families who choose not to self-test. If you do choose to use it, you are also in charge of the results. There is no duty to report the results of this test. If you do get a positive result, you will need another more sensitive test to confirm the results from your local health center or COVID-19 testing site. Rapid response self-tests are not 100% accurate and positive results must be confirmed at your local health centre or COVID-19 testing site. If you are given a positive rapid test result, we ask that you stay home and contact your local health center or public health office for instructions on next steps.
People who are confirmed by a medical professional to test positive for COVID-19 are required to stay home and isolate and follow any additional guidance from their health care provider.
Health Canada has confirmed these tests can be used for two years past the expiration date listed on the packaging so don’t worry if the expiry date has passed. However, if your test kit appears to have been damaged, frozen, or the buffer fluid has leaked out of the test tube, please discard it and use another test kit. If you have any questions about this program, click here.
The holidays are a wonderful time to gather but also a risky time for the spread of COVID-19 upon return to schools. Using these test kits with your healthy student before returning to school in January will help to find mild cases of COVID-19 early, so that schools can remain open and COVID-free. Thank you for your support in keeping YK1 schools safe and healthy.
Sincerely, 
Dr. Cindi Vaselenak
Superintendent/ CEO
Yellowknife Education District No.1 (YK1)
Phone: (867) 766-5050
Email: cindi.vaselenak@yk1.nt.ca
