Ontario education minister considering cancelling March break to curb COVID spread
TORONTO Ontario is considering cancelling March break in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, in a move educators and some parents say could lead to mass burnout.
Feb 4, 2021 5:55 PM By: Canadian Press
TORONTO Ontario is considering cancelling March break in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, in a move educators and some parents say could lead to mass burnout.
Education Minister Stephen Lecce said he s waiting on the opinion of the province s chief medical officer of health before making a final call about the week off school.
Ontario to Expand Asymptomatic Testing to Schools Province-Wide
Ontario education minister Stephen Lecce announced on Feb. 1 that the province will be expanding its targeted asymptomatic testing to schools and childcare centres located in areas where there are COVID-19 outbreaks, high case counts, and high priority communities.
“When we first launched targeted asymptomatic testing for students and staff and their households, we started in parts of the province which at the time had among the highest numbers of active COVID cases in the Toronto, Peel, Ottawa, and York Region,” Lecce said.
The minister said 63 schools participated and approximately 9,000 tests were conducted with about 200 new cases identified.
OTTAWA An Ontario doctor suggests cancelling March Break, an Ottawa teen fined for breaking Quebec s curfew just minutes after 8 p.m., and photo radar catches thousands of speeders. CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at the five most viewed stories on our website this week. As students prepared to return to school for in-person learning for the first time since the Christmas break, eastern Ontario s top doctor is recommending that March Break should be cancelled. Eastern Ontario Medical Officer of Health Dr. Paul Roumeliotis said this week that March Break should be cancelled to avoid a repeat of the post-Christmas spike in COVID-19 cases.
OTTAWA One of Ontario s top doctors says in order to keep COVID-19 case counts moving down, this year s March Break should be cancelled. And while some agree, at least one teachers union does not. Eastern Ontario s medical officer of health, Dr. Paul Roumeliotis, says he s confident that many schools are ready to open, despite new variants which the Minister of Education says could complicate the February 10 back-to-class date. Roumeliotis also thinks that March Break should be cancelled to avoid a repeat of the post-Christmas spike, after many people visited with family and friends. I think if kids stay in school it s not going to be a problem, says Roumeliotis, who adds that schools can be effective at controlling spread. Unless kids stay home and parents keep them home during spring break and don t mix with others then that s not going to be a problem but what we saw during Christmas break was really the opposite. The numbers really went up four fold in