[GTranslate]A new surge in Covid-19 infections in Ontario schools. Yesterday the record was recorded since the beginning of the school year: 518 cases – 440 are students, 77 teachers and 1 is a non-teaching member – which has increased the total number to 12,750. There are 1,168 schools where outbreaks of the virus are currently active while the number of schools closed has risen to 58.

And as more and more schools close due to Covid-19 outbreaks, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is calling on teachers from all schools to be ready for a possible shift to online learning.

In an email to all principals and deputy principals, Canada’s largest principal, asks the schools, in case classes or schools need to be closed, to be prepared for virtual learning. “We are simply reiterating to our schools what we have been saying since the beginning of the year – said TDSB spokesman Ryan Bird – we really need to be organized.”

Toronto’s public sector has led the way for distance learning: even the Catholic one, with the closure of some of its schools, transfers children to virtual learning.

Meanwhile, the number of schools of the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) that are forced to suspend classes due to infection continues to go up. The last two schools that temporarily closed are St. Eugene Catholic School in Etobicoke and St. Roch Catholic School in North York. Just two days ago, following the recommendation of Toronto Public Health, St. Dominic Savio Catholic School in Scarborough, Brian Public School in North York and Victoria Village Public School suspended classes in presence to allow investigations and shed light on the outbreak of coronavirus outbreaks. What is certain at the moment, says TPH spokeswoman Vinita Dubey, is that the infections are variants of Covid-19 whose characteristic is a very rapid transmission.

It is precisely the new strains of the virus that cause concern: according to the latest data from the Covid-19 Science Advisory Table, the third wave of infections is already worse than the second and the variants represent almost 70% of all cases.

A situation that causes a lot of concern. The reopening of hairdressing salons and other personal care services scheduled for April 12 may be postponed.

The statements by Prime Minister Ford and Minister Lecce on the March Break of April 12, which may be postponed, were mixed.

Families and teachers are waiting to know whether the holiday week, already postponed, will be postponed to a future date or cancelled for this year: while Doug Ford leaves room for doubt stating that “we are seeing a rapid growth in numbers at this time” and that “by the end of the week a decision will be made”, Stephen Lecce does not seem to have any uncertainty as to whether it will be done. “Despite the fact that Covid-19 cases are higher now than when the March Break was initially postponed by a month, the holiday week is still scheduled to start on April 12 – said the Minister of Education – these increasing numbers obviously represent a challenge for the province that will communicate any changes but at this time we are proceeding as planned”.

It was the concern that families would take the opportunity to travel in the province and possibly bringing the virus back to the classrooms, that prompted the government to put a stop to the March Break by postponing it until April. 

Now, as was easily expected, infections – accompanied by the danger of variants – are uphill. The unknown, however, remains the same: who knows if Ford’s line of caution or Lecce’s boldest one will prevail.