Two Montreal schools shut down this week due to COVID-19 outbreaks
At least two Montreal elementary schools were shut down this week due to outbreaks of COVID-19.
The first closure that was confirmed happened at the Sainte-Odile Elementary School, located on Depatie Street in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, after all 530 students were sent home due to what the school described as “several” infections. The school did not provide the number of cases.
In a letter sent to parents on Monday and obtained by CTV News, the school said the closure will last until Sept. 24.
A virtual-classwork system hasn’t yet been fully implemented.
To ensure the school’s 530 students don't miss out on class work, those who needed computers to do work from home have now received them and virtual follow-ups will start tomorrow, said Alain Perron, a spokesperson from the school service centre.
Perron also confirmed Wednesday evening that a second school, École Saint-Émile in Rosemont, will close this week due to a coronavirus outbreak. No other details were released.
The closures come as rapid testing appears to be ramping up in Quebec schools.
The education ministry said in an email to CTV News that rapid testing kits were delivered to school service centres in the Montreal area last week.
"It is up to them to distribute the tests to the schools concerned, including Sainte-Odile," said ministry spokesperson Bryan St-Louis.
"Schools will be able to begin administering the tests before the end of the month, once they are ready.
The English Montreal School Board, which has one school in a designated hot zone, said Wednesday they have not yet rolled out rapid testing.
Rapid tests in schools are being rolled out to 10 regions in Quebec as infections driven by the more transmissible Delta variant continues to rise, but Dr. Donald Vinh, an infectious disease specialist with the McGill University Health Centre, said it is just one tool in curbing the spread of the virus.
"Could rapid testing have prevented the closure of [Sainte-Odile]? Perhaps, but I think we have to take a step back and say: could masking, and distancing, and bubbling or cohorting have prevented this?" he said, adding that these basic measures, if properly enforced, are proven methods at preventing cases from spreading.
"Rapid testing has a lot of advantages, but it needs to be used properly."
Schools need to decide how teachers, who are being tasked with administering the tests, will use them -- whether it's for diagnosing a symptomatic student or for testing as a preventative measure, he said.
"You need to think about this and map out those strategies and train the schools ahead of time before you find yourself in deep waters."
The Coeur-Immacule elementary school in Sherbrooke, Que. also closed down Monday, as hundreds of schools have had COVID-19 infections so far during the fourth wave of the pandemic and have sent home classrooms.
Most children at that school were permitted to return Wednesday, school officials say, with the exception of eight groups that must remain in isolation.
At Sainte-Odile, public health is asking all parents to bring their kids for COVID-19 tests, even if they aren’t considered high-risk, and to notify the school when the test is complete and when the results come back.
While the closure is only expected to last through Friday, the letter to parents assured them that children who are infected or deemed high-risk will be required to do a longer quarantine period.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.