Ontario’s publicly-funded school boards are reporting the lowest number of new school-related cases of COVID-19 in any 24-hour period since early-September, even as cases in the broader community continue to rise.

The Ministry of Education says that there were 67 new school-related cases confirmed over a 24-hour period ending Thursday afternoon, down from 93 during the same time-period last week.

It is the lowest single-day number of new school-related cases since Sept. 13.

The total number of active cases associated with the public school system now stands at 913, down from 1,004 at this time last week and 1,090 two weeks ago.

Case counts in public schools, in fact, have been steadily declining since early October but it‘s unclear how much longer that trend can continue given a recent rise in lab-confirmed infections in the broader community.

Public health officials, including Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore, have consistently contended that schools are a reflection of the broader community and will inevitably see higher case counts as COVID-19 begins to spread elsewhere.

“It's certainly not out of control by any means just yet but we still have to acknowledge that instead of having these very low, low, low case rates they're are starting to go up and we've got to be careful here,” infectious disease specialist Dr. Isaac Bogoch told CP24 on Friday morning. “It is only November. There's a lot of fall and winter in front of us and there's going to be opportunities for this virus to be transmitted, especially in indoor settings.”

Durham board remains COVID-free

The latest school data comes as Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam reveals that children under 12 now account for the biggest share of cases nationally.

But Tam said that there has been a decrease in outbreaks in school and daycares this wave, suggesting that infections are being more closely monitored in those settings than they may have been in the past.

She also said that less than one per cent of the children who have tested positive for COVID-19 have developed a serious illness.

“What I can say is that across the world unvaccinated young people obviously represent a larger share of cases but in Canada, Ontario has one of the lowest case rates for youth under 20 and that is because our premier and our government has invested and followed the best medical advice,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce said during an interview with CP24 on Friday afternoon. “Every institution from the Children's Health Coalition to the Chief Medical Officer of Health has said unequivocally the program, the layered approach, the improvement in air ventilation and the expansion of testing all of it is helping to keep our school safe. We are proud of that but we know we have to remain vigilant as we look forward to the winter.”

There are currently 488 schools with at least one active case of COVID-19, accounting for roughly 10 per cent of Ontario’s public schools.

That number, however, is down from a peak of 819 schools with at least one active case on Sept. 30.

The Durham District School Board also remains entirely COVID-free with zero active cases. Meanwhile, Toronto's two largest school boards - the TDSB and TCDSB - are reporting a combined total of 120 active cases.

Meanwhile, Toronto Public Health says that there are currently 13 confirmed outbreaks in schools and zero confirmed outbreaks in child-care centres.

There are not currently any school closures in the GTHA.

That said there are four elsewhere in the province. That includes an elementary school in a town north of London where 18 cases have now been confirmed.

Since the beginning of the school year there have been 4,983 confirmed infections linked to public schools in Ontario.

With files from The Canadian Press