Ontario postponing March Break to mid-April, says education minister

Education Minister Stephen Lecce says the province is postponing March Break to the week of April 12, saying at a news conference the move is intended to keep Ontario students safe and limit community spread of COVID-19.

Schools in Toronto, Peel and York regions to return to in-person learning on Feb. 16

Lecce said postponing rather than cancelling the break is “an important way that schools can help to limit community transmission” of the novel coronavirus and its variants of concern, Lecce said Thursday.

“It is of the utmost importance that we do not travel at this time,” he said later, noting the province doesn’t want to see another spike in cases like it did around the December holiday break.

Lecce spoke alongside Health Minister Christine Elliott and Dr. David Williams, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health.

Students in Ontario have been gradually returning to schools for in-person classes over the last several weeks.The last cohort from regions hardest-hit by COVID-19 — Toronto, Peel and York — are slated to head back to school on Feb. 16.

Earlier this week, the Ontario NDP called on the government to move ahead with the break as planned, saying that both students and educators are burned out from the stresses of online learning and navigating health protocols amid the pandemic.

The province’s largest teachers’ union has also advocated for the government to keep March Break in place.

Lecce said his decision applies to public schools, but that he is sending a “strong message” to private schools to follow suit.

“We’re asking everyone in the education space to work with us,” he said.

ICU admissions fall below 300

Ontario logged another 945 cases of COVID-19 this morning, though data problems meant that Toronto Public Health (TPH) underreported its number of newly confirmed infections.

TPH recorded just 112 additional cases, far below its average daily figures in recent weeks.

The new cases also include 258 in Peel Region and 116 in York Region.

Other public health units that saw double-digit increases were:

• Ottawa: 63
• Hamilton: 46
• Waterloo: 41
• Simcoe Muskoka: 34
• Durham Region: 33
• Halton Region: 31
• Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 29
• Niagara Region: 25
• Windsor-Essex: 25
• Middlesex-London: 20
• Eastern Ontario: 15
• Thunder Bay: 12
• Southwestern: 11
• Sudbury: 11

Ontario’s network of labs completed 68,812 tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and reported a test positivity rate of 2.3 per cent — the lowest it has been since Oct. 17, 2020.

According to the Ministry of Health, the number of people with COVID-19 that were in hospitals fell by 65, down to 883. Of those, 299 were being treated in intensive care, the first time that figure has fallen below 300 since Dec, 28, 2020.

Public health units also reported another 18 deaths of people with the illness, bringing the province’s official death toll to 6614.

At 3 p.m. ET. today, the head of Ontario’ COVID-19 Science Advisory Table will present the group’s latest projections for the virus in the province.

Campaign to vaccinate LTC residents continues

Meanwhile, the province said it administered another 14,717 doses of COVID-19 vaccines yesterday. The pace of vaccinations has picked back up in the latter half of this week after a lull in early February. A total of 136,998 people have received both shots of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines and are fully immunized, according to the province.

In a statement this morning, the Ministry of Long-term Care said it had completed the first round of shots in long-term care homes.

That included first doses for 62,000 residents, while about 34,000 have also gotten their second shot, the ministry said. Minister Merrilee Fullerton called it a “milestone.”

Some public health units, however, told CBC News that they are still administering first doses, with plans to wrap up later today or by the end of this week.

A spokesperson for Lambton Public Health, for example, said in an email that doses of the Moderna vaccine will be given to “all long-term care and high-risk retirement home residents (who want one) by the end of this week.”

Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution task force had a goal of giving first doses to all residents of long-term care, high-risk retirement homes and First Nations elder care by Feb. 10.

In a subsequent e-mail, the Ministry of Long-Term Care said there had been “miscommunication,” acknowledging that a “small number of homes” have not completed their first doses yet.

CBC