TORONTO – Ontario today recorded another 158 cases of Covid-19 in public schools: 20 more than on the same day last week. 135 of the cases were detected in students and 22 in staff members, while the attribution of another case was not disclosed. There are now 1,627 known active cases of Covid-19 associated with the public school system, accounting for approximately 30% of all known active cases in Ontario. 

At this point last school year – the institutions had reopened a week later – there were 302 active cases in Ontario schools. Currently, three of the province’s 4,844 public schools are closed, including one in Courtice and another in London. On the other hand, at least 240 individual classes have been left at home due to confirmed exposures to the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the post-election emergency is added to the emergency in schools. In fact, Elections Canada announced today that a polling attendant at the Presteign Heights Elementary School at 2570 St. Clair Avenue East who worked on election day, last September 20, later tested positive for Covid-19 . The attendant was present at the polling station from the moment it opened at 9.30 until after it closed.

“TPH (Toronto Public Health) is advising all those who have attended these settings to self-monitor themselves and immediately carry out the Covid-test if symptoms of Covid-19 emerge. This applies to the public and staff, including those who are fully vaccinated”, reads a notice published today. And again TPH has assured that it has already reached all known close contacts and has instructed them to take the test.

The agency also reported another case of Covid-19, linked to an operational polling station during the days of early voting. Elections Canada said in fact that one of its employees at Kingston Road United Church, at 975 Kingston Road, tested positive for Covid-19 after working during the early voting days on 11 and 12 September between 8 and 21.30.

Toronto Public Health reiterates that also in this case the investigation is underway to reconstruct a list of all the people who have attended the polling station and at the same time invites those who went to that polling station to self-monitor themselves to identify any symptoms of Covid- 19 and, if necessary, to carry out the test.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash