The Ontario government will decide whether schools will re-open for in-class instruction in January in the next several days, Premier Doug Ford said Tuesday.
Speaking at a workplace vaccine clinic in Mississauga on Tuesday, Ford said cabinet will meet soon to determine if Ontario schools are reopening to in-person learning in January.
“They are going to be coming out. I know the Minister (Elliott) has been sitting down at the table along with the minister of education and we will be having an announcement in the next couple days but we just want to see how things go and obviously speak to the chief medical officer, Dr. Moore,” he said.
Across the GTA, most public boards are scheduled to restart on January 3.
But most boards also distributed wireless devices to students and instructed them to bring all of their belongings home in December, in anticipation of a school shutdown.
The term ended in December with dozens of schools closed due to COVID-19 outbreaks or staff shortages due to the pandemic, and approximately 12,000 confirmed cases among students and staff between Sept. 1 and Dec. 18.
Ontario’s seven day rolling average of new cases exceeded 8,000 on Tuesday, with demand for PCR testing outstripping available supply, sending positivity rates above 20 per cent.
Source: CTV News(TORONTO)
