Marc Garneau latest Thorncliffe-area school to close due to COVID
Public Health advises closure after outbreak of 14 cases, school joins Thorncliffe Park PS and Fraser Mustard ELC
Marc Garneau Collegiate has become the third school in the Thorncliffe Park area to be shut down by COVID-19.
Toronto Public Health advised the closure of the school, on Overlea Boulevard at Don Mills Road, after 14 active cases of the coronavirus were reported yesterday.
The high school, which specializes in the sciences and is actually within Flemingdon Park, is closed beginning today, up to and including Dec. 18 at least, to give public health time to complete an investigation into the outbreak and carry out further testing.
Since the shutdown comes at the end of the school semester just before the holidays, students will not be returning to class until Jan. 4, the beginning of the next semester, at the earliest.
School continues online however, the TDSB says.
Important Update: @TOPublicHealth has advised that, based on the current situation at Marc Garneau CI, all students & staff will be dismissed beginning tomorrow up to & including Friday, December 18 to allow TPH time to finish investigation & conduct additional COVID-19 testing.
— Toronto District School Board (@tdsb) December 9, 2020
Marc Garneau joins Thorncliffe Park Public School, which closed Dec. 3, and Fraser Mustard Early Learning Centre, which is in the same complex as the public school and closed Dec. 7.
This morning, the Toronto District School Board reports 17 active cases at Marc Garneau, 31 active cases at Thorncliffe Park PS, and seven active cases at Fraser Mustard.
Valley Park Middle School, across the street from Marc Garneau, is listed as having nine cases.
Grenoble and Gateway public schools in Flemingdon Park east of Don Mills Road are reporting three and zero active cases respectively, according to the TDSB.
Across Toronto, the school board is currently recording 426 cases among students and 89 among teachers, for a total of 627 active cases.
The Thorncliffe Park area has become known as a hotbed of COVID-19 in Toronto.
A recent study found 16.3 per cent of people tested for COVID-19 in the M4H postal code, which covers Thorncliffe Park, have tested positive, giving Thorncliffe the worst positivity rate in the city.
So shut down Grenoble!!!!!! 4+ confirmed cases and all of our older siblings attend Garneau. If they have it how can we not have an outbreak too?! @Sflecce @tdsb
— Jeff Allen (@theCraigWilliam) December 9, 2020
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