Over 100 Ontario Schools Had More Than 50% Of Their Staff & Students Absent Last Week
The government also says 16 schools have closed.
As of last week, multiple Ontario schools across the province were seeing a lack of both students and staff in class.
According to the Ontario government, on January 21 over 100 schools were reporting more than 50% absenteeism.
While the province is no longer reporting COVID-19 cases in schools, they are keeping track of how many students and staff are no-shows. It is important to note that absences aren't only being recorded if they are related to COVID-19. Absences due to a medical appointment, religious holidays and more also count.
As of Friday, some schools were even reporting over 85% absenteeism. Almaguin Highlands SS in South River saw 92.7% of staff and students missing, while West Ferris SS in North Bay saw 87.7%.
Schools in Toronto were also hit hard, with Holy Family CS reporting 83.7% absenteeism and Contact Alternative School S reporting 71.3%.
On top of this, 16 out of the province's 4,844 schools have been shut down due to "operational impacts of COVID-19."
Students returned to in-person learning on January 17; however, many kids' first day back was a snow day due to the blizzard that took over most of the province. Some students in the GTA had to wait even longer to go back because of incomplete snow removal.
Ontario has implemented additional safety measures as schools opened back up, including giving two rapid antigen tests to each student and increased ventilation.
The province also announced that it would be launching more school‐based vaccination clinics to help get more students fully vaccinated. The clinics would run before, during and after school.
Health Canada has a robust website with all the latest information on COVID-19 vaccines and can answer any questions you may have.