Free community testing makes back to school easier

By Deandrea Hamilton

Staff Writer

#TurksandCaicos, February 7, 2022 – Community testing on the weekend ahead of a return to face to face learning for thousands of Turks and Caicos children looked a lot younger, and the free opportunity was a blessing.

“It’s very important, especially for me because I have a lot of kids, so if I had to pay for each one of them, I think the cheapest service privately is $30, so that’s one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times thirty. That’s a lot of money so it’s very important,” said Takera Francis, who brought a cute troop of children at the Carolina Medical Center in down town Providenciales for the free testing.

Some schools have asked for children to be tested and for parents to present a negative Covid-19 test result prior to reentering the school campuses and classrooms on Monday.

“So we came to get them tested to come back in school to make sure that they are COVID-free and to also protect other students and teachers as well,” said Ms. Francis.

Turks and Caicos is into phase four of its roadmap to reopening schools and Ms. Francis confided that she felt comforted by the request from her school to have children screened. She is ready for children to return to face to face learning.

“If we could go to work, why they can’t they go to school?” she questioned.

From the children who hopped into the chair one by one, there was some hesitation, some fidgeting and nose rubbing in the testing process, but it was smooth, easy and digitized.

“If they wanted to go back to school, they needed to get tested.”

Results were snappy and evidence of the result was e-mailed to those who turned out.

Saturday’s free community testing was conducted by Carolina Medical Clinic, with testing kits provided by the Turks and Caicos Ministry of Health.  Omni Care Medical held one in the same area in early January.

Free community testing, hosted by the Turks and Caicos Hotel and Tourism Association continues at the Harvest Bible Chapel on Leeward Highway east on Mondays from 9am to noon and Thursdays at the Church of St Monica.

Over the weekend, a special testing center was set up for eastern residents by the TCHTA at the Blue Haven Resort.

Rachel Taylor, TCI Minister of Education during her January 27, House of Assembly ministerial statement, announced that the majority of schools in the country will return to face to face education on January 31.

All schools with student populations under 200 children were approved to convene fully. Those with more students enrolled were to run a hybrid programme, making allowance for a return of all sixth graders at the primary school level and fourth, and fifth formers in the high schools to get back to full face to face learning.

The Omicron strain of the Coronavirus put the brakes on face to face learning to begin the 2021-2022 second semester, with TCI peaking at over 800 active cases in January.  Figures have since dropped dramatically and in the first week back to in person learning for most students, there have been no reports of outbreaks of Covid-19.