Ontario’s publicly-funded schools now account for nearly one-third of the active COVID-19 cases in the province after another 146 infections were added to the tally on Monday.
The latest cases, which are from a 24-hour period ending Friday afternoon, represent a slight increase from this time last week when 135 new school-related infections were reported.
The number of active cases associated with the public school system now stands at 1,637, accounting for 32.7 per cent of Ontario’s total active caseload.
That is well ahead of where things stood at this time last year when there were just 539 active cases associated with Ontario’s public schools, accounting for less than 10 per cent of the province’s active caseload.
In fact, in 2020 it took until Dec. 4 for the number of active cases associated with the school system to surpass today’s number.
It should be noted that Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore has insisted that schools remain safe and that transmission within the classroom has been “minimal” with 75 per cent of outbreaks kept to a handful of cases.
“The chief medical officer of health continues to believe our school system has been safe. We have very layer of protection in place following the best medical advice,” Education Minister Stephen Lecce told a pool camera at Queen’s Park on Monday afternoon. “Our commitment is to keep our schools open and safe with a layered approach that includes masking indoors, enhanced screening before they enter our schools and obviously stronger ventilation improvements that are making a big difference in our school system.”
About 80 per cent of education staff are vaccinated: Lecce
Ontario saw a rapid rise in school-related cases following the resumption of classes last month but in recent days the number of new cases has appeared to level off.
There are currently 816 schools with at least one case but that number has been mostly unchanged for a week now.
The number of schools that have been ordered to close due to COVID-19 outbreaks also remains at five.
However, there are at least 217 cohorts of students that have been switched to remote learning in Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) school due to positive cases. That number is likely much higher as a number of boards don’t publicly report the data.
The Ontario Science Advisory Table has also said that cases are rising among school-aged children ages five to 11 while declining in other age groups.
On Monday Lecce vowed to continue, “being responsive to the risks” as part of his government’s commitment to keeping schools open and said that 80 per cent of education staff have attestested to being fully vaccinated so far.
But opposition leaders at Queen’s Park questioned the Progressive Conservative government’s commitment to making the necessary investments to keep kids safe.
“A vaccination rate of 80 per cent among education workers is not good enough when children under 12 are still ineligible for the vaccine and are at an increasing risk from the Delta variant.
Today, over 800 schools across the province have COVID-19 cases, and five schools are currently closed. Kids deserve to be back safe in the classroom learning,” Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said in a press release. “Doug Ford needs to implement all possible measures to ensure schools are as safe as possible.
“We need a safe schools plan with smaller class sizes, hiring more teachers, education workers and supports for our kids who have been through quite a lot over the last 18 months,” NDP Leader Andrea Horwath added in a subsequent media availability.
The total number of active cases associated with GTHA school boards is 728.
The school with the highest number of cases in Toronto is Scarborough’s Chester Le Junior Public School with seven active student case and one active staff case.
