COVID-19 cases in Hamilton schools are inevitable, says medical officer of health
Bobby Hristova | CBC News | Posted: August 28, 2020 12:45 AM | Last Updated: August 28, 2020
'We're going to see some cases and we shouldn't consider that a failure if that does happen'
Students and staff becoming infected by COVID-19 in schools is inevitable says the city's medical officer of health.
Dr. Elizabeth Richardson made the comment during a virtual town hall Thursday evening.
"We do think we're going to see some cases and we shouldn't consider that a failure if that does happen because we are living in a world with COVID-19," she said.
"We're not in a state to eliminate COVID-19 yet, but are doing what they can to keep the risks low."
She stressed sending kids to school is a personal choice for families, but touted the benefits of sending kids to school.
It's a decision many parents are making Thursday night, to meet the public school board's registration deadline as classes begin on Sept. 8.
Here's more back-to-school coverage:
- Help CBC Hamilton's back-to-school coverage
- 'It's not children who are really sick" — Experts advise on getting kids back to school
- Catholic board plans to cut class sizes, hire teachers to help students keep distance
- Ontario reveals COVID-19 school outbreak plan, including rules for student dismissals and closures
- HWDSB extends registration deadline to Thursday due to problem-plagued Parent Portal
- Six Nations elementary schools to do remote and virtual learning for September and October
Schools have been rushing to put in safeguards and prepare to teach students during the pandemic, finally getting a chance to review the provincial outbreak plan that was released on Wednesday.
Despite that, more than 20 per cent of students in the public school board will be learning remotely and about 15 per cent are opting for online learning in the Catholic board.
Uptick in local COVID-19 cases
Richardson also noted that active cases have "swung back up" this month.
"That's a little bit of not so good news in that we had a low of 14 active cases at the end of July," she explained.
"Unfortunately, we've also seen some people are going out when they do have symptoms."
Richardson explained that active cases are rising either from family and close friends spreading it among each other or from people not adhering to social bubbles and circles of 10 people.
Hamilton Public Health knows of 67 active cases in the city. That's up four from Tuesday.
There have been 978 positive tests in Hamilton since the start of the pandemic in March. The virus has killed 45 people but 866 have recovered.
There are fewer than five people in hospital at Hamilton Health Sciences with COVID-19.
Brant
In Brant County and the city of Brantford, local public health know of seven active cases. The virus has infected 160 people in total and has killed five, but 148 have recovered.
None of the seven active cases are in hospital.
Haldimand-Norfolk
There are 24 people in in the two counties that have COVID-19. There have been 475 cases, of which 419 people have recovered and 32 have died.
Halton
The number of active COVID-19 cases in Halton fell to 29 on Thursday, compared to 23 on Tuesday. Twenty-five people in the region have died and 914 have recovered, for a total caseload of 968.
Nine of those active cases are in Burlington where seven people have died of the virus and 191 have recovered, for a total of 207 cases.
Niagara
The number of active cases in Niagara dropped by six to 20 on Thursday. Overall, 933 Niagara residents have tested positive for COVID-19, 849 of which have recovered. Sixty-four people have died.