THUNDER BAY - Students will not have a break to look forward to next month, with the province moving to postpone March Break until April.
“To support our collective fight against COVID-19 and on the best advice made to us from medical experts, Ontario postponing March Break until week of April 12,” said Minister of Education Stephen Lecce on Thursday.
“This decision was made on that advice from public health officials including the province's chief medical officer of health and other medical officers of health.”
Lecce said postponing March Break is a way schools can help limit the transmission of COVID-19 and used the example of surges in cases following the winter break in December.
“We recognize that congregation is a key driver of the spread of COVID-19, something we realized over the winter break, and we will not take that risk again with your child, our staff, or with Ontario families,” he said.
“We are governed by the medical community to limit or try to prevent a scenario we saw over the holidays where there was a massive spike of transmission and positivity of our kids and youngest learners.”
There are also growing concern over the increasing number of COVID-19 variant cases in the province.
“The decision is all the more important with the spread of variants of COVID-19,” Lecce said. “The decision to postpone March Break has not been an easy one, but necessary to keep families safe from these variants.”
Lecce said the province was in consultation with teachers unions and associations and their input was recognized and appreciated but the decision was based on advice from public health officials.
“The recommendation of the committee was to delay. We are Knowing that people do need a break on that level there, but we want a safe break and a careful break and one at the right time and right way to make sure that we keep our schools safe and our transmission rates in our children down and keep monitoring it very carefully,” said Dr. David Williams, chief medical officer of health.
Dr. Janet DeMille, medical officer of health with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit, said given the rise in cases experienced over the winter break, there is value in deferring March Break.
“The levels of COVID-19, we are not through the second wave,” she said. “I think there is concern. Schools are generally a safe place to be. There are a lot of measures in school to keep people safe. When children are outside of school and may be more likely to be socializing with others and COVID can spread in those types of gatherings.”
