Marc Garneau C.I. in North York closed due to COVID-19 cases

The Toronto District School Board has announced Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute in North York will be closed until January due to COVID-19 cases.

Toronto Public Health advised the school board to dismiss students and staff in order to finish up an investigation into the outbreak and conduct additional COVID-19 testing

According to the TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird, there are currently 14 student cases of COVID-19 right now. Bird says the school was set to undergo school-wide asymptomatic testing on Thursday, but that will be rescheduled due to the closure.

Bird said part of the ongoing TPH investigation is looking at the 14 positive cases, but also encouraging more students and staff to get tested in the next few days.

“What they are looking at essentially is, ‘How is this being transmitted? Is it being transmitted through the school?’,” said Bird. “That’s a key part in why all school and staff have been dismissed if they don’t yet know how it’s being transmitted.”

There are at least 14 cases of COVID-19 among students at the school. More on the closure from TDSB Spokesperson, Ryan Bird: https://t.co/FTkwIWT04n pic.twitter.com/P4x8GvYCPZ

— Erica Natividad (@CityErica) December 9, 2020

There are two other schools in the TDSB that have closed due to COVID-19 cases. Thorncliffe Park Public School has reported 29 cases of COVID-19 among students and two among staff. A total of 17 are considered resolved.

The school was closed last Thursday after three staff members refused to work due to COVID-19 concerns.

Testing of asymptomatic students and staff at the school over two days led to the discovery of 19 positive cases of COVID-19 and 18 classes were placed in self-isolation.

Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy has reported seven cases of COVID-19 amongst students. One is considered resolved.