COVID-19 Outbreak In Etobicoke Forces A Whole School To Close & Switch To Remote Learning
It's the first school to send everyone home this year.
An entire high school in Etobicoke was just shut down by Toronto Public Health due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
Starting Tuesday, October 12, Silverthorn Collegiate Institute on Mill Road will be shut down and all students will resume their classes remotely, TPH announced in a press release last night. This is the first school of the year to issue a whole-school dismissal.
On the advice of @TOPublicHealth, all students at Silverthorn CI are being dismissed effective tomorrow, Tuesday, October 12 to allow TPH additional time to investigate COVID cases at the school. All students will be moving to remote learning during this time.https://twitter.com/cityoftoronto/status/1447696023506325508\u00a0\u2026— Toronto District School Board (@Toronto District School Board) 1633993214
Toronto Public Health said they'll monitor this COVID-19 outbreak, which will also include following up with close contacts and recommending whole-school testing.
"COVID-19 activity in the school setting is not unexpected, given that the virus continues to circulate in Toronto and how transmissible Delta variant is," TPH officials wrote. "This is why TPH continues to remind all residents to get vaccinated as soon as possible, if they have not already done so. As we learn to live with COVID-19, the vaccine is the best protection against serious illness, hospitalization, intubation and death. Getting the vaccine will also protect residents who are currently not able to get vaccinated, such as those who may be immunocompromised and children under 12 years old."
As of October 8, 21 schools across Toronto have active outbreaks, and there are 30 active investigations in 122 school settings.
Toronto Public Health said they declare an outbreak if there are two or more lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases linked within school settings in 14 days.