Ontario students to return to school Jan. 5 as province announces new COVID measures

The province will push back the return to school to Jan. 5 to allow for additional health measures to be put in place to combat the “highly-transmissible” Omicron variant.

During a news conference Thursday afternoon, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health Dr. Kieran Moore said the extra days will give schools time to receive N95 masks for staff, and allow for the installation of roughly 3,000 HEPA filter units in schools across the province.

The province is also updating the COVID-19 school and child care screener ahead of the return to school.

With another daily COVID-19 case record and with limited testing capacity, the province is cutting back on publicly-funded PCR tests and will only administer them to symptomatic high-risk people. Even individuals testing positive on a rapid antigen test are not required to confirm the result.

Isolation period for those with COVID-19 will drop to five days from 10 for those who have two doses and children under 12 years of age.

The province will also restrict spectator capacity to 50 per cent of the usual seating capacity or 1,000 people, whichever is less, in buildings used for sports and recreational fitness activities, concert venues, and theatres.

Residents in long-term care homes, Elder Care Lodges and other congregate care settings will now be eligible to receive a fourth dose of a mRNA vaccine. Individuals can get the shot if at least three months or 84 days have passed since they received their third dose.