U of S professor floats the idea of ‘pool testing’ for back-to-school plan

A microbiologist at the University of Saskatchewan believes the province needs a different approach to COVID-19 testing in schools.

Kyle Anderson, an assistant professor of biochemistry, microbiology and immunology at the U of S, thinks pooled testing should be used for Saskatchewan schools.

Anderson, who has five kids of his own, believes the government’s current plan lacks a lot of attention.

Pool testing, also known as surveillance testing, tests multiple samples of COVID-19 in one batch.

“This would get as many tests done as possible. There can be 10 swabs washed into the same solution to make a single test,” said Anderson. “Whether one student has the virus or two, each student in that group would be tested individually afterwards to catch the cases before they could spread.”

In Anderson’s method, each classroom could undergo weekly pool testing.

Anderson added that constant testing could help identify asymptomatic kids who may be unknowingly spreading COVID-19.

If a test result comes back negative, the classroom would be OK until the next week. If there was a positive case, individualized tests would be done on everyone in the group.

Saskatchewan’s chief medical health officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, said during a media conference Tuesday that broad testing at schools isn’t part of the current back-to-school plan.

“Children who are in school are a high property. We need to make sure tests are done in a timely way,” Shahab said.

Despite the current plan in place, Shahab added that pool testing is a very interesting concept.

Anderson described more important elements of broader testing in schools in a video he shared to Facebook on Monday.