Public schools now account for one of three active COVID-19 cases in Ontario after 146 new infections reported

TORONTO -

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.

But during a media availability on Monday, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath slammed the Ford government “for announcing nothing new whatsoever” for schools in this morning’s throne speech and refusing to reduce class sizes during the pandemic.

“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,” she said.

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.

“Almost one in every five schools across the province has COVID cases, and the recent Science Table modelling clearly shows that cases in children are increasing,” Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said in a press release issued earlier on Monday. “Where are the rapid tests? Where are the lower class sizes? Where is the commitment to keeping our kids safe and schools open?”

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.