TDSB to begin voluntary collection of COVID-19 vaccination status from students

Signs helping direct the flow of student traffic are seen at Kensington Community School amidst the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Carlos Osorio

TORONTO -

The Toronto District School Board says that it will begin collecting COVID-19 vaccination status from some students on a voluntary basis.

The move comes at the request of Toronto Public Health, which is asking the same of all school boards in Toronto, and is designed to make it easier to figure out who is allowed to stay in school in the event that a cohort is dismissed due to an outbreak.

“In the event of an interim cohort dismissal related to COVID-19, students who are fully vaccinated are allowed to continue to attend school as long as they have no symptoms,” the TDSB said in a post on its website Tuesday.

The school board is asking those born in 2009 and earlier to disclose their status. Disclosure is completely voluntary, but those who do not disclose will be treated as unvaccinated for the purposes of cohort dismissal, the board said.

Students and staff who are fully vaccinated will still have to use the board’s COVID-19 screening tool each day to confirm that they do not have symptoms.

The board noted that the information will be collected in accordance with all applicable legislation around personal information, including the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

The TDSB has posted instructions on its website for disclosing vaccination status.

According to the latest data from Toronto Public Health, 80 per cent of kids aged 12-17 in Toronto are fully vaccinated, with 87 per cent having had at least one COVID-19 shot.

Ontario reports more than 200 school-related cases

In the meantime, more than 200 new school-related cases of COVID-19 were added to Ontario’s tally Tuesday, but the number of active infections associated with the province’s public school system remained virtually unchanged from last week.

The Ministry of Education said that there were 250 new school-related cases confirmed over a three-day period that ended on Monday afternoon.

The number, however, is down from the 280 cases that were reported over the same period last week.

The number of active cases associated with the public school system now stands at 1,606.

It is the lowest that number has been since last Wednesday, though it is still more than triple the number of active infections that were associated with public schools at this time last year (449).

The latest data comes as the province rolls out a plan to introduce rapid testing in schools in high-risk areas as soon as next week.

The province is also facing increasing pressure to mandate vaccination for education workers after Minister of Education Stephen Lecce revealed that only about 80 per cent of staff have attested to being fully vaccinated to date.

“I do believe that a number of workers in that environment haven’t reported as of yet and I would find it surprising if they are below the provincial average which is 86.5 per cent with first doses and 81.3 per cent with second doses,” Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore said during a press conference on Tuesday morning. “I think immunization is exceptionally important for them to minimize their personal risk and minimize the risk of transmission in that setting. I do believe they have very good infection prevention and control so they have masking, they have shields, they have hand hygiene, they have screening. But I would hope as we head further into the winter the workers in the education sector realize the benefits of immunization and realize that the vaccines are safe and highly effective at preventing hospitalization.”

The Ford government announced last week that it would mandate vaccination for workers in the long-term care sector but it is continuing to permit unvaccinated healthcare and education workers to continue to work so long as they participate in a rapid testing program.

On Tuesday Moore would not say whether he would recommend that mandatory vaccine policies be extended to other sectors, including education, but he did promise to monitor the data on vaccination rates “on a regular basis.”

“My immediate priority was long-term care, my next priority is acute care, home care, ambulance services, independent health facilities and then will be monitoring the education sector. I am hoping that they increase their immunization rate well above 80 per cent, which is below our current population rate,” he said.

The latest data suggests that there are currently 796 Ontario schools with at least one active case, accounting for more than 16 per cent of all schools.

There are also six schools that are currently closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

But a count by CP24 reveals that there are at least 197 cohorts self isolating across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area due to positive cases in the classroom.