Article content A week into the holiday break, school officials are still reporting fresh COVID-19 cases. The Thames Valley District school board has reported 17 cases in 14 schools across the region since Wednesday. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. Try refreshing your browser. Many of the schools are in Elgin County, an area covered by Southwestern Public Health. “While the provincial shutdown officially starts on Dec. 26, I urge everyone to limit their contact with others effective immediately,” Joyce Lock, medical officer of health for Elgin and Oxford counties, said. “We have cases in every community and in people of every age.”