Ontario students will not be back in school next week
The province has decided to suspend in-person learning for elementary and high school students indefinitely and will move all students to on-line learning instead.
Premier Doug Ford says they will continue to monitor the situation before making the decision on when kids can go back to school.
The move comes after Education Minister Stephen Lecce insisted for weeks that schools were safe and sent a letter this weekend saying schools would reopen next week.
According to Ford there is concern that provincial transmission rates may increase after spring break. Students were supposed to return to school a week from yesterday.
A look at the local numbers
Public Health Sudbury & Districts is reporting 41 new cases of COVID-19, 40 in the Greater Sudbury area and one in the Sudbury District.
Considering resolved cases, there are now 263 active cases in the agency’s jurisdiction.
Health Sciences North has 23 admitted patients, 18 confirmed COVID cases with the other five waiting for test results.
There are six people in intensive care.
And, Algoma Public Health is reporting four new cases of the coronavirus, all in the Sault Ste. Marie area.
Considering resolved cases, there are 45 active cases.
The one case that has been hospitalized is an individual who is not from the district, but is being treated for the virus in hospital.
The province is clearing the decks to provide more intensive care beds to treat people with COVID-19.
The hospital system is under severe strain currently, with more than 600 patients admitted to I-C-U’s across Ontario.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says cancelling all but life-and-death surgeries, hiring student nurses, and opening pediatric intensive care to adults, are some of the methods they’re implementing.
Elliott says the shift will eventually create as many as one-thousand new intensive care beds around the province.