Omicron’s quarantine halts face-to-face classes at 2 London, Ontario. schools – London | The Canadian News

Two schools in London, Ontario, are temporarily shutting down in-person learning until the new year after COVID-19 cases were linked to the Omicron variant.

The Thames Valley District School Board (TVDSB) made the decision to close Westmount Public School after numerous close contacts were reported of a COVID-19 case with possible links to the Omicron variant.

St. Andre Bessette, part of the London District Catholic School Board (LDCSB), also made the decision to temporarily halt in-person learning after several staff members and students had to self-quarantine after multiple people were linked to a probable case of the new variant.

“This decision was made as a precaution to help ensure the health, safety and well-being of the more than 1,200 students and staff at the school,” said a statement from the LDSCB.

Both school boards have detected operational challenges with multiple classrooms affected.

With winter break just a week away, school boards made the decision to switch to online learning until winter break is over and classes resume on January 3, 2022.

The TVDSB said families requiring technical support for students to access virtual learning should contact the Westmount Public Schools office.

These two schools are just the latest in a series to shut down after being tied to Omicron’s pool of variants.

As of last Thursday, the Middlesex-London Health Unit reported that at least seven schools have been affected, including the Princess Elizabeth School, which halted in-person learning on Friday.

As of last week, the cluster of COVID-19 cases involving the Omicron variant involves at least 50 cases and 18 households.

Ontario’s chief physician has said that Omicron is expected to become the dominant strain in the coming weeks, and that this variant is considered more transmissible than other variants.

Although it is more communicable, health officials have said that early indications have shown that it is not that serious.

Two weeks ago, Ontario reported that it had detected the first two cases of Omicron in Canada. Since then, the variant has come to account for about 11 percent of infections, according to the province’s advisory panel of pandemic experts.

– with files from Jacquelyn LeBel of Global News and The Canadian Press