Ontario’s publicly funded schools are reporting 95 new school-related cases of COVID-19.
The latest figure is up slightly from Thursday, when 81 new cases were reported, but down from Wednesday, when 119 cases were logged.
The province said that of the new cases, 84 are among students while nine are among staff and two have not been identified as either.
The new cases bring the cumulative total of school-related cases in Ontario this school year to 5,530.
There have been 985 cases reported in schools over the past two weeks. That’s up slightly from yesterday’s two-week count, which stood at 974.
There are currently 489 schools in the province with a reported case and two schools are closed because of outbreaks.
Overall, the province reported 598 new COVID-19 cases across the population Friday.
The latest school numbers come as Ontario released new modelling showing that ICU occupancy in Ontario will likely climb to around 200 beds in January.
However health officials expressed cautious optimism that the virus can be managed going forward without shutting down work places or education settings.
“I think what is important to realize is that we are now in a situation where we can deal with this on a regional /local level,” Dr. Peter Juni, the head of Ontario’s COVID-19 science table, told CP24. “That's important you know – we're not talking about closing down venues again; it's about fine-tuning capacity limits, etc., making sure that vaccine certificates are carefully implemented, that people are wearing their masks. We're at that level, which is good news.”
Health Canada is also expected to release its decision on whether to authorize a pediatric COVID-19 vaccine shot from Pfizer for use in kids aged 5 to 11 within the next few weeks. Currently COVID-19 vaccines are only approved for those 12 and up.
Close to 80 per cent of those 12-17 are now fully vaccinated in Ontario, while nearly 85 per cent have had at least one vaccine dose.
