A Toronto School Is Dismissing All Students RN Over An Ongoing COVID-19 Investigation

Students were sent home early for winter break this year at this one Toronto middle school.

Based on the recommendations of Toronto Public Health, Cosburn Middle School is temporarily dismissing all of its students from school activities and in-person learning starting December 15. The Toronto District School Board announced that students will still carry on their studies through online learning while they're at home.

"We are recommending a whole school dismissal as a precautionary measure to protect staff, students and the community from further COVID-19 transmission within the school," TPH tweeted about the decision.

According to Toronto District School Board's COVID-19 advisories webpage, there are 15 confirmed cases among their students and one other case confirmed among their staff. Based on the website, Cosburn Middle School is currently the only school in the Toronto District School Board to be fully closed for COVID-19.

The school board tweeted on Tuesday that the whole school dismissal will help out TPH by giving them extra time to investigate the COVID-19 cases at the school. Narcity reached out to TDSB for additional information about how long the school is expected to close but did not immediately hear back before this article was published.

Toronto Public Health, however, said they are working alongside their school partners to figure out when students can come back to the grounds for in-person learning. TPH also alerted all close contacts and asked them to stay home, check in on their symptoms, and get tested for COVID-19.

Earlier this month Toronto Public Health announced it was looking into its first school-based Omicron variant case at a Scarborough school.

As of December 10, Ontario said it is ramping up its public health measures amid growing concerns about the highly transmissible Omicron variant, including some new proof of vaccination requirements for youth between 12 to 17 years old.