TORONTO -- A staff member at a Mississauga elementary school is in hospital after contracting COVID-19.
A Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board trustee confirmed the news to CP24 Thursday afternoon. There is no immediate word on their condition.
According to the school board, five staff members and ten students at St. Sofia Byzantine Catholic Elementary School tested positive for COVID-19.
One other staff member also needed to go to hospital due to COVID-19 complications, the trustee said.
The school, located in the area of Burnhamthorpe Road East and Dixie Road, shut its doors on March 4 and moved classes online after “a significant number of teachers” were directed to self-isolate.
On March 8, Peel Public Health declared an outbreak at St. Sofia as some of the cases “may have contracted the virus through the school.”
An outbreak is declared when there are two or more COVID-19 cases in students, staff, or visitors with an epidemiological link and if at least one case could have been infected in the school.
In a March 9 letter sent to parents and guardians, public health said it is likely that the COVID-19 cases at the school are associated with variants of concern.
In-person learning was slated to resume this week, but the school will now reopen on March 29.
The extended closure is “due to COVID-19 outbreak-related operational challenges as a result of a significant number of staff directed to self-isolate, and to further protect against the spread of COVID-19,” Peel Public Health wrote in a letter sent to parents on Monday.
A spokesperson for the school board said they would not comment on any case due to privacy reasons.
Three more DPCDSB schools will be closed on Friday, bringing the total number of closures in the board to 10.
COVID-19 prompts closure of 2 schools in Peel Region
In Brampton, Peel District School Board and Peel Public Health decided to close Lorenville Public School on Friday “to protect against the spread of COVID-19.”
Nine cases have been confirmed at the school.
Students at École secondaire catholique Sainte-Famille in Mississauga will be moved to virtual learning on Friday “due to operational challenges related to COVID-19,” according to Conseil scolaire Catholique MonAvenir.
“This is to protect the health and safety of all citizens by slowing the COVID-19 pandemic and the school outbreak. The school administration is working closely with Peel Public Health and calls upon the full collaboration of parents and the school community to ensure that our individual and collective actions allow for a return to normalcy as soon as possible for all members of our school community and their loved ones,” the board said in a statement.
-- with files from Beatrice Vaisman
