Ontario students will not return to full-time classes this year
The government believes this is necessary for the safety of students and their families.
The Ontario provincial government has announced that there will be no face-to-face classes in schools this school year. Authorities believe this is the best way to keep families safe from the spreading variant B.1.617.2, also known as the Indian strain, and to focus on vaccinating people in the province. Students are expected to return to schools in September.
"As our primary goal is to end the third wave and begin the first phase of the province's opening, we can't risk another spike in illness and strain on hospitals and intensive care units," said Ontario Premier Doug Ford. — By making this difficult decision for us, we will allow children to have safe fun at camps and outdoor recreation and then return to schools in September."
Recent modelling has shown that opening schools in Ontario could increase the number of daily cases of COVID-19 infection by 6-11%. It is not known how many of these cases will come from the more infectious and dangerous strain B.1.617.2, which was first detected in India and later infiltrated into Canada.
An increase in cases and the spread of new variants of the virus would jeopardize the end of the third wave in Ontario and could trigger new restrictions.
"The decision was not easy for us, but it was made with one goal in mind: to keep summer for families and to ensure a safe and stable September for students," said Provincial Minister of Education Steven Lecce. — We are taking action to ensure that both students and school staff are fully vaccinated by September.
The government has once again stressed that vaccination is the best protection against COVID-19. In Ontario, more than 9 million doses have been administered so far, and 65% of residents have been vaccinated. You can sign up to be vaccinated from the age of 12.
In May, Ontario authorities developed a plan to lift restrictions under which most quarantine measures would be lifted in the third phase of the province's opening, when 70-80% of the population would be vaccinated with one dose and 25% with two doses.
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