THUNDER BAY - The province is taking extreme precautions to protect the health care system by closing all publically funded schools following March Break.
The Ontario government announced late Thursday afternoon that after consultation with Dr. David Williams, the Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health, along with experts at the Covid-19 command table, the Minister of Education Stephen Lecce, Minister of Health Christine Elliott, and Premier Doug Ford issued a Ministerial Order to close all publically funded schools from March 14 to April 5, 2020.
“We recognize the significant impact this decision will have on families, students, schools, as well as the broader community, but this precaution is necessary to keep people safe,” the statement reads in a media release issued by the province on Thursday.
“Today's steps build on a number of actions our government has taken in recent days to respond to COVID-19, including moving forward with additional public health measures, which include enhanced access to screening, expanding lab-testing capacity, and implementing new initiatives to keep the public and frontline workers safe. We are further setting aside up to $100 million in contingency funding in the upcoming 2020 budget to address challenges related to COVID-19.”
The order was approved by Lieutenant Governor in Council. The statement said the decision to close the schools is a measure to contain the spread of Covid-19 and allow the public health system to be better able to respond to cases in the province.
In Thunder Bay, the Lakehead Public Board, the Thunder Bay District Catholic Board, and CSDC des Aurores boreales are all publically funded boards.
