The Toronto District School Board has announced eight more schools will be closed until early January due to COVID-19 outbreaks, including a pair of East York schools that were set to re-open on Monday for in-class learning.
Posted Dec 14, 2020, 06:02AM EST
The Toronto District School Board has announced eight more schools will be closed until early January due to COVID-19 outbreaks, including a pair of East York schools that were set to re-open on Monday for in-class learning.
According to a tweet Sunday afternoon, the TDSB says on the advice of Toronto Public Health, City Adult Learning Centre, Humewood Community School, R.H. McGregor Elementary School, David Lewis Public School and Grenoble Public School will all be closed to students and staff until January 4.
Late Sunday, the TDSB added Oakridge Junior Public School to the list.
According to the TDSB’s COVID-19 advisories website, there are a total of 26 cases in those six schools – 22 among students.
As well, two other East York schools that were set to re-open Monday – Thorncliffe Park Public School and neighbouring Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy – will also remain closed until after the Christmas break, which is set to begin on December 21.
The board says this will give public health officials more time to investigate COVID at the schools.
Toronto Public Health dismissed classes at Thorncliffe Park Public School back on December 3 after asymptomatic testing uncovered a significant outbreak. According to the TDSB, there are 31 active cases of coronavirus among students and two more among staff as of Friday.
Neighbouring Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy – which caters to junior and senior kindergarten students – was closed last week after a number of student cases were discovered. According to the TDSB there are a total of eight cases – none among staff.
Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute will also remain closed until after the Christmas break after 14 students were confirmed to be COVID-19 positive, days before staff and students were to undergo asymptomatic testing. That number at the North York school has since climbed to 18 according to the TDSB.
As of Friday, the TDSB said there were 444 active student cases of coronavirus and 88 active staff cases in its schools with more than 660 resolved cases.