FORT FRANCES, Ont. – Students in the Fort Frances area will return to class Monday following a two-week closure ordered by public health authorities due to a local spike in COVID-19 cases.
The Northwestern Health Unit ordered nine schools in the area closed on Jan. 10, less than a day before in-class learning was scheduled to resume.
The health unit had reported a single-day record of 20 new cases earlier that day, with 18 in the Rainy River region, which includes Fort Frances. Active cases in that region have since declined significantly, sitting at 7 as of Friday.
On Thursday, the NWHU announced schools could reopen, citing improving local numbers and new precautions, such as mandatory masking in grades 1 to 3, outdoors, and on buses.
After seeing at least ten school-related cases, medical officer of health Dr. Kit Young Hoon said the NWHU had seen little evidence of spread in that setting.
“It’s not that transmission can never happen in schools – there’s still a possibility,” she said during a virtual Q & A session Thursday. “But for the most part, what we’re seeing locally is that when we get a case in a school, the other kids in the class are not testing positive.”
Guardians are reminded to use the provincial screening tool daily before sending children to school.
