TORONTO -- The Toronto District School Board reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 in a student on Thursday just as tens of thousands returned to secondary classrooms for the first time in months.
TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird told CTV News Toronto that the student is enrolled at York Memorial Collegiate Institute, located in Etobicoke near Royal York Boulevard and Eglinton Avenue West.
“I wanted to provide a brief update on a COVID-19 case that was identified in a student at our school prior to the first day,” Bird said in an email.
“We are working closely with Toronto Public Health (TPH) with regard to this case, but please know we have no reason to believe there is any cause for concern for students and their families.”
Bird explained that the student did not attend school on Thursday but “very briefly” visited the building earlier in the week.
The student will not return to the school until cleared by TPH, Bird said.
“As a precaution, an enhanced cleaning was conducted in the impacted areas but no further steps have been advised by TPH at this time,” he said.
Prior to Thursday’s news, the TDSB had been dealing with a number of infections in at least seven of its schools however all of those cases were staff members.
In an email, principal Donna Drummond told parents and guardians that they would not be receiving a TPH notification regarding the confirmed case, as outlined in their COVID-19 procedures, because the infections was identified prior to the first day of school.
“Having said that, we just wanted to let you know about this particular case as it must be reported to the Ministry of Education and TPH,” she said.
