Ontario’s publicly-funded school boards are reporting another 88 new cases of COVID-19 today as they continue to account for an increasingly large share of Ontario’s active caseload.

The number of school-related infections has been mostly stable for weeks now but with cases quickly dropping in the broader community schools now make up a bigger share of Ontario’s active cases than they have at any point since the resumption of classes last month.

As of today there are 1,159 active cases associated with public schools, accounting for more than 36 per cent of Ontario’s active caseload.

At this point last week there were 1,255 active cases associated with the school system but that only accounted for 32 per cent of the province’s active caseload. Two weeks ago there were 1,234 active cases, accounting for 28 per cent of Ontario’s active caseload.

“We are seeing, you know, a higher rate (of infections) amongst those who are unvaccinated and that would include the youngest members of our community. However, I think, in general, what we've been pleased to see is that we haven't seen a huge upswing (in cases),” Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa said during a meeting of the city’s Board of Health on Monday morning. “The overall metrics and indicators are trending in the right direction, even though we are now towards the end of October and well into the fall return to school.”

According to the latest data, there are currently 582 schools across Ontario with at least one active case of COVID-19. That number previously peaked at 819 in late September but has been trending downward in recent weeks.

Meanwhile there are only two schools across Ontario that are closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks today following the resumption of in-person learning at Etobicoke’s Greenholme Junior Middle School. That school was previously ordered to close on Oct. 14 after 10 cases were linked to the building.

However, it should be noted that there are at least 147 individual classroom cohorts in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area that are self-isolating following positive cases in the classroom.

The total number of school-related cases confirmed to date also remains well ahead of where it was at this point in the 2020/2021 academic year – 4,141 compared to 1,770.

The increase in the share of cases associated with public schools comes amid some optimism that Health Canada will soon approve the use of the Pfizer vaccine in children ages five to 11.

During the Board of Health meeting on Monday de Villa said that she is hopeful that Toronto will be able to begin vaccinating school-aged children within the “next few weeks” and should have access to enough vaccine for every eligible child once it is approved by Health Canada.

“My understanding is yes that we should be able to plan for all but of course the proof is always in the pudding,” she said. “We need to actually get the product in order to be able to deliver it on the ground.”

According to Toronto Public Health, there are currently 15 schools in the city with active outbreaks, accounting for about half of all active outbreaks in the city,