Ontario’s publicly-funded school boards have now reported more than 5,000 cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the academic year, hitting the ominous milestone about three weeks earlier than in 2020.
The Ministry of Education says that there were another 85 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed over a 24-hour period ending on Friday afternoon.
That is up from 74 cases during the same time-period last week.
There have now been 5,068 confirmed infections associated with schools since classes resumed in early September.
Last year it took until December 2 to reach that number.
The latest data comes amid word that two Greater Toronto Area schools have closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks.
St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School in Schomberg is closed until at least Nov. 15 following the discovery of 13 different cases.
Meanwhile, the TCDSB announced on Sunday night that Precious Blood Catholic School in Scarborough would be closed as of today after 13 cases were confirmed.
Six of those cases were identified using take-home PCR tests after the outbreak at the school was first declared.
“What I can tell you from our numbers is that this time last year they were significantly higher. We are noticing actually a steady decrease of cases in our schools,” TDSB spokesperson Shazia Vlahos told CP24 on Monday morning as she discussed the situation at Precious Blood Catholic School. “Of course, having said that with what's happening at this we need to keep our eyes on making sure all those health safety precautions are being followed. Making sure there's active screening before coming to school, if you have symptoms staying home, masking, physical distancing. Just following those guidelines I think is really important to making sure that we continue with the steady decline, at least in our schools.”
It should be noted that while the total number of school-related cases of COVID-19 is higher than at this point in 2020, the number of active infections associated with the public school system continues to decline for now.
There are now 918 active cases linked to Ontario’s public schools, down from 973 at this time last week and 1,159 two weeks ago.
However, in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area, active cases have increased week-over week and now stand at 555 compared to 495 last Monday.
Cases are also rising in the broader community, which could soon lead to a jump in infections among school-aged children and educational staff.
Ontario’s rolling seven-day rolling average of new infections has climbed 31.5 per cent over the last week and now stands 476.
About 10 per cent of Ontario schools – 474 - currently have at least one active case of COVID-19. That is the lowest that number has been since Sept. 20.
