Ontario elementary kids to stay home until at least Jan. 25 as record daily COVID cases, deaths reported
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Elementary students in southern Ontario will not go back to class as planned next week but will instead continue online learning until Jan. 25, provincial public health officials say.
The general lockdown in Northern Ontario will also be extended another two weeks until Jan. 23, matching restrictions for the southern part of the province.
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Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams said the decisions were made in response to spiking COVID-19 case numbers, deaths and hospitalizations.
Many people appear to have been “casual” about public health measures such as masking and social distancing over the holidays, he said.
“We want the schools open — that was our plan,” Williams said. “One thing about viruses, especially this one, one cannot be too confident in what’s going to occur.”
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Public health officials say the COVID-19 testing positivity rate among school-aged children has risen sharply to nearly 20% from 5.44% in early December for 12-to-13 years-olds.
The government has said repeatedly that schools have not been a significant source of COVID-19 transmission throughout the fall.
Officials blame the higher rate on “concerning behaviour over the holidays” rather than schools.
Dr. Dirk Huyer, coordinator of the provincial outbreak response, said the incoming data has thrown the back-to-school plan out the window just days before kids were headed back.
The expectation had been that the lockdowns would limit the growth in cases and relieve pressure on hospitals, he said.
Ontario set daily records of new COVID-19 cases and deaths Thursday.
“So this is obviously frustrating for everybody, obviously disappointing for everybody,” Huyer said. “But clearly the numbers keep going up despite the provincial lockdown that’s been put in place.”
NDP MPP Education Critic Marit Stiles said Premier Doug Ford could have made schools safe with investments in better ventilation, broader asymptomatic testing and a less “lethargic” vaccination program that would allow teachers and education workers to be inoculated sooner.
The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) said the Ford government has failed to acknowledge that schools play a role in the spread of the coronavirus.
“Once again, the Ford government has belatedly taken some steps toward catching up with what most Ontarians already realized — in this case, that it makes no sense to reopen schools while the spread of COVID-19 appears to be out of control,” OECTA said in a statement.
Williams said he expects Education Minister Stephen Lecce to announce new measures for schools in the coming days,
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