COVID-19 closes another Kitchener elementary school

For the second time in three weeks, a Kitchener elementary school has been forced to shut down to due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

“We are taking important and necessary steps to protect children, staff and the school community from exposure to the COVID-19 virus,” said Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health.

Waterloo Region says that Southridge Public School will be closed for in-person learning for at least 10 days, which means it could reopen for a day before the holiday break but the Waterloo Region District School Board says the closure will last until Jan. 3.

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The move will send 430 students into in-person learning mode.

A COVID-19 outbreak was initially declared at the school on Queen’s Boulevard on Dec. 1, which has been connected to five cases but late Monday afternoon, Waterloo Public Health said it now involves 15 cases.

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The outbreak had already resulted in the dismissal of multiple cohorts including six classrooms, a bus route and two meetings.

“We are closing a school in the Waterloo Region District School Board for the first time since the return to in-class learning this fall due to concern about the potential for widespread and rapid transmission of the virus,” Wang said.

The region’s only other closure occurred at Blessed Sacrament Catholic Elementary School on Nov. 24.

There were 19 cases linked to the outbreak at the time, with one more having occurred since.

The move involved shifting 350 students to online learning.