TORONTO -- Five Toronto schools have been temporarily closed over the last two days pending ongoing COVID-19 investigations, public health officials have confirmed.
The closures were confirmed in a series of tweets posted on Sunday and Monday. Few details have been released regarding the investigations taking place.
“Today, Toronto Public Health recommended the temporary dismissal of all school cohorts at St. Dominic Savio Catholic School, Brian Public School and Victoria Village Public School as a result of ongoing COVID-19 investigations.” Toronto Public Health said in a Tweet Sunday.
“We will keep the school communities informed as soon as the reopening dates are confirmed.”
Later Monday evening, similar closures were announced at St. Eugene Catholic School in Etobicoke and St. Roch Catholic School in North York.
The Toronto District School Board said that students attending Brian Public School and Victoria Village Public School will move to remote learning during the investigation. Both schools are located in North York within 10 kilometres from one another.
According to provincial data, there are five confirmed COVID-19 cases among students at both TDSB schools.
There are eight student cases of COVID-19 reported at St. Eugene Catholic School between March 23 and March 29, as well as two staff cases. Five student cases were reported at St. Dominic Savio Catholic School in Scarborough on March 24 while four student cases and one staff infection were reported at St. Roche Catholic School.
The closures come as Ontario politicians and provincial health experts say they are carefully watching the increasing COVID-19 case counts leading up to the April school break.
