TORONTO – There are active cases of Covid-19 in nearly a quarter of Ontario’s schools. The situation is also destined to worsen as the number of infections, due to the Omicron variant, continues to grow at an exponential rate. 

The Education Ministry says the number of schools with at least one case involving a student or staff member in the past 14 days has risen to 1,167, or more than 24 percent of all public schools. Compared to this period last week – when only 884 schools recorded active cases – the increase is 32%.

Meanwhile, the number of schools that have been closed due to the Covid-19 epidemic or for operational reasons related to the pandemic continues to rise: the escalation of closed schools continues unstoppable and yesterday reached 60. The previous day there were 48, last week’s peak was 20. And 60 is also the total of closed schools, schools that have therefore transferred their students to distance learning.

There is no shortage, as can be easily deduced, of active outbreaks in hundreds of educational institutions: until yesterday Covid epidemics were present in 365 public schools of which 324 elementary schools. 365 is the highest number of active school outbreaks recorded at any time of the pandemic.

According to the latest data there were another 335 new cases related to the school confirmed in a period of twenty-four hours that – if we do not take into account today when the infections were 384 – is the highest number in a single day. Overall, since September, to now, the infections in schools have been 10,855.

The number of active infections associated with the public education system currently stands at 2,864. At this point, last December, it stood at 1,771.

At this point in the school year, in 2020-2021 there were also a third of the current school closures.

Tomorrow, the last day of school before the Christmas holidays, children and school staff are given a kit containing 5 rapid antigen tests: the aim is to make sure that children and staff do not return to school in January sick and can infect others.

However, it is not at all clear how the situation will be in a few weeks considering that the situation evolves day by day, unfortunately in a negative sense.

In the worst case scenario, according to the Ontario Science Advisory Table we could soon reach 10 thousand daily infections. “If we want to smooth out this wave we will have to reduce people-to-people contact,” said Dr. Adalsteinn (Steini) Brown, co-chair of Ontario’s Science Advisory Table, “I believe we can do this without closing schools or closing businesses that have suffered during previous waves, but it will take serious restrictions that lead to a real reduction in people-to-people contact.”