TORONTO – The evidence can no longer be denied. Covid-19 entered Ontario schools from the main entrance. Almost one in a hundred public schools is now closed due to Covid-19 outbreaks or operational reasons related to the pandemic. If only two days ago the institutes closed due to outbreaks of the virus were 28, the number today – according to data provided by the Ministry of Education – jumped to 47. As many as 47 schools closed with the transfer of children to distance learning with Covid that continues to create havoc as regards face-to-face lessons.
In addition to those closed there are also 334 schools – representing about 7% of all public schools – with active outbreaks. Just two days ago their number was 313.
The number of school closures is the highest since the third wave of the pandemic in the spring: it was April when the total of schools closed due to the Covid-19 epidemic reached a maximum of 62. The rest is history: all the students in the province stayed at home until the end of the school year relying on distance learning to continue studying.
Meanwhile, the number of reported school-related cases continues to increase as cases grow in the wider community.
today morning, publicly funded school boards reported another 384 new cases among students and staff. This is a 52% increase over the previous one-day record recorded in this period last week (252).
According to the latest data, compared to 860 last week, there are now 1,094 Ontario schools with at least one active case of Covid-19.
Overall, since September, the threshold of 10 thousand infections related to school has been abundantly exceeded: 10,486 to be precise. “I hope the schools can stay open for as long as possible. You have heard my mantra ‘first to open, last to close’ – said Dr. Kieran Moore, Chief Medical Officer of Health when asked about the sudden increase in cases – we are reviewing every protocol we have to make our schools even safer in front of Omicron and we will announce some of these recommendations in the coming days to continue to make sure that our schools are safe”.
Meanwhile, several GTHA public school boards have asked students to take home wireless devices and other items near the holidays in case schools don’t reopen in January.
And they will not reopen York University and McMaster University who have already announced that the winter semester will start as planned on January 10, but the classes will be online, instead of in presence. Other universities, concerned about the extreme contagiousness of the Omicron strain, are also planning to take the same approach.
York University in Toronto plans to resume face-to-face courses and most of the activities on campus on January 24 while at McMaster in Hamilton classes will be held virtually for the first week of January while students will be able to return to attend starting January 17. Pandemic permitting.
