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Friday, March 29, 2024
COVID cases at Crossroads and St. Davids close classrooms

Three people at Crossroads Public School and one at St. Davids Public School have been infected with COVID-19, a school board official says.

As a result, two classrooms are closed at Crossroads and one is shut down at St. Davids, said Kim Sweeney, a spokesperson for the District School Board of Niagara.

She would not say whether the infected individuals were students or staff, citing privacy concerns.

There are no active cases at St. Michael Catholic Elementary School, the only Niagara Catholic District School Board school in Niagara-on-the-Lake, board spokeperson Jennifer Pellegrini confirmed Wednesday.

One of the people infected at Crossroads will be finished 10 days of self-isolation on Dec. 17 and will be able to return to the school on Dec. 20.

The other two people who tested positive can return to the classroom on Dec. 21, Sweeney said. The infected person from St. Davids school can return Dec. 17.

As COVID cases in schools across Ontario surge, there are 19 active cases listed by the Niagara school board in its schools. Eden High School in St. Catharines is closed until Jan. 10 with four active cases.

Garrison Road Public School in Fort Erie is reporting six cases but the school remains open.

Sweeney said the decision about which schools close is up to Niagara Public Health.

“They felt there was a risk of transmission (at Eden High School). So, to be really, really careful and to ensure student, staff and community member safety they thought the best course of action would be to close the school,” she said.

Sweeney said at this point there is no indication that the school board may be moving to online learning in the new year as the Omicron variant spreads.

As of Wednesday, there were 513 active cases in the Niagara region, the highest number of active cases since May 23. Of the 513 cases, 94 are classified as being in the under-20 age group.

As of Sunday, Dec. 12, the region had vaccinated 8,383 or 26 per cent of eligible children in the five to 11 age group, Niagara Public Health spokesperson Courtney Westerhof said in an email.

There are roughly 24,000 more Niagara children who are eligible to be vaccinated, Westerhof said.

As of Wednesday, Niagara-on-the-Lake had 21 active cases, one of the lowest counts in the region. But due to NOTL’s small population, the municipality has one of the highest case counts per 10,000 people, at 11.1

Only Fort Erie, Grimsby and West Lincoln were performing worse in that metric.

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