LONDON, ONT. -- A London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB) elementary school in Woodstock, Ont. has closed temporarily due to an outbreak of COVID-19.
On Thursday, Southwestern Public Health (SWPH) declared an outbreak at St. Michael's Catholic Elementary School.
So far there have been three cases among staff confirmed at the school, which has more than 400 students and staff
Dr. Joyce Lock, SWPH medical officer of health, explains, “It ended up being a good chunk of the school (in contact) so there weren't many students left over by the time we considered all the contacts of those three cases.”
LDCSB Director of Education Linda Staudt adds, “What makes this situation unique is that it's involving staff who as part of their regular school day are going into multiple classrooms. As a result of that there was many classrooms that have been affected.”
The board currently has five active cases amongst all its schools, meaning the majority are currently at St. Michael's.
The school closure will be in place for roughly two weeks and students will return to remote learning during that time.
“It’s a big inconvenience for everybody, we just want to make sure that we’re being cautious,” Staudt adds.
Lock says there are concerns that if COVID-19 variants are present it could make the situation worse.
“We're not quite sure yet whether we have two virus variants there, the original native one and the variant of concern. If we get more variants of concern then there's probably a high chance that we're going to get more cases. If you have symptoms, or not feeling well, go get tested.”
- With files from CTV's Nick Paparella
