Management of COVID-19 in schools

Overview of operational guidance

This operational guidance is intended to support school boards and school authorities in the safe reopening and operation of schools for the 2021-2022 school year. This guidance also applies to child care centres and before and after school programs that operate within schools.

In the event of a discrepancy between this guidance and a directive of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, the directive prevails.

The COVID-19covid 19 guidance: school case, contact, and outbreak management (PDF), which can be found on COVID-19covid 19: Guidance for the health sector page, provides the direction for local public health units on the management of COVID-19covid 19 cases, contacts and outbreaks in schools.

While the focus of this guidance is on the updated health, safety and operational measures that are required in order to safely reopen and operate schools, please note that every effort should continue to be made to uphold the welcoming and caring environment that schools provide for children and families. There may be variability in scenarios based on local context and epidemiology and the information in this document is intended as guidance only.

Additional information is available on the provincial COVID-19covid 19 website, including resources to help stop the spread and sector specific resources, such as helpful posters and mental health resources. If you have further questions or require clarification, please contact your Ministry of Education regional office.

Case definitions

The Ministry of Health maintains case definitions for a probable case and a confirmed case of COVID-19covid 19. These definitions are maintained on the Ontario Ministry of Health site and are subject to updating. Please refer to this site for the most current version of these key definitions.

Outbreak protocols

As outlined in the Ministry of Health COVID-19covid 19 guidance: school case, contact, and outbreak management (PDF), an outbreak in a school is defined as two or more lab-confirmed COVID-19covid 19 cases in students or staff (or other visitors) in a school with an epidemiological link, within a 14-day period, where at least one case could have reasonably acquired their infection in the school (including transportation and before or after school care). The local public health unit will work with the school to determine whether epidemiological links (for example, cases in the same class, cases that are part of the same before and after school care cohort, cases that have assigned bus seats in close proximity to each other) exist between cases and whether transmission may have occurred in the school. This document is maintained on the Ontario Ministry of Health’s COVID-19covid 19: Guidance for the health sector site, and is subject to updating.

Additionally, the local public health unit (PHU) is responsible for:

• determining if an outbreak exists
• declaring an outbreak
• providing direction on outbreak control measures to be implemented
• declaring that an outbreak is over

The public health unit will determine which cohort(s) may be sent home (for self-isolation) in response to a case, an outbreak or if full school closure is required based on the extent of an outbreak. In some instances, the local public health unit may give school principals discretion, if necessary, to dismiss individuals or cohorts while awaiting the results of the public health investigation.

An outbreak can be declared over, when:

• at least 14 days have passed with no evidence of ongoing transmission that could reasonably be related to exposures in the school
• no further ill or symptomatic individuals have been reported by the school who are associated with the initial exposed cohorts

Prevention and outbreak responsibilities

As part of the outbreak response, there should be well defined roles, responsibilities, and processes within the school board, school and the local PHU.

Schools are responsible for reporting:

• a confirmed COVID-19covid 19 case associated with the school to the local PHU and to the Ministry of Education through the daily reporting tool where they have become aware of such a case
• occupational illness to the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development, as well as to the workplace joint health and safety committee, the worker’s labour union (if any), and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB)
• absenteeism to the PHU and to the Ministry of Education through the daily reporting tool, in accordance with provincial and local PHU direction

Local PHUs are responsible for:

• determining if an outbreak in a school exists
• managing the outbreak in collaboration with the school and other relevant partners
• providing direction on when cohorts of students can return to school or when the school can reopen
• conducting case and contact management activities

Measures will be taken to ensure privacy and avoid disclosure of details to the school community that would lead to identification of a confirmed or probable COVID-19covid 19 case.

Note: an outbreak does not necessarily need to be declared over for the PHU to recommend that the school reopen to some/all cohorts. Based on advice from the PHU, cohorts without evidence of transmission can be gradually brought back to school as additional information and test results become available. Basic preventive measures must be reinforced, and consideration should be given to implementing additional preventive measures and active surveillance as part of reopening.

Review the COVID-19covid 19 guidance: school case, contact, and outbreak management (PDF) for a more extensive list of roles and responsibilities for PHUs.

Role of school administrators and school boards

School administrators and school boards should:

• implement prevention measures found in guidance from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and their local PHU
  • this includes having an accessible process in place to implement on-site screening procedures
• cooperate and coordinate with the local PHU, and other stakeholders as required
• communicate with early years partners about COVID-19covid 19 in schools and school boards
• maintain accurate records of staff, students and visitors for the last 30 days
• provide PHUs with the name(s) and contact information of a designated point of contact for use during and/or after business hours, to ensure timely investigation and follow up cases, contacts and outbreaks (for example, classroom, bus, before and after school programs, extra-curricular activities)

This information should include up-to-date attendance records for all common school locations attended by staff and students, and transportation seating charts (where applicable), and contact information for those groups. This information should be provided to the PHU within 24 hours of request to ensure timely follow-up.

In general, schools should not report all instances of ill individuals in the school setting to the PHU as these are frequent occurrences and typically students have non-specific symptoms. However, as required by section 28 of the Health Protection and Promotion Act, school principals are required to report to the medical officer of health if they are of the opinion that a pupil has or may have a communicable disease. As such, principals should contact their local PHU if they have concerns about COVID-19covid 19 student related absences or attendance concerns within their school community.

The local PHU may be consulted if there are questions about the management of individuals with symptoms, environmental cleaning, and other measures (PDF), as necessary.

In collaboration with the PHU, communicate proactively with the school community about COVID-19covid 19 prevention measures and about how symptomatic or asymptomatic individuals, cases, and outbreaks will be handled.

School administrators and boards will need to develop a communication plan, in collaboration with the local PHU, for managing concerns in the school setting, and use this proactively and responsively as needed in schools.

Training with respect to outbreak prevention and control measures, including IPAC measures and the use of PPE should also be provided to school staff.

Communicating with the school community

Parents, students and staff have an understandable interest in knowing when a COVID-19covid 19 positive case has been identified in their school.

All school boards and schools will have a COVID-19covid 19 advisory section on their website where they will clearly post information and updates regarding confirmed cases of COVID-19covid 19 that involves a student or a staff member in a school setting.

Note that no personal information will be made public. As cases for students or staff members are resolved, boards and schools will update the COVID-19covid 19 advisory section of their website to remove information about these cases.

In the interests of privacy, information posted by boards to school communities will not identify the student or staff member that has received a positive COVID-19covid 19 test.

If public health advises that a class, cohort or a school will be closed for a period of time, parents, students and staff will be notified immediately.

Notice of any closures of classes, cohorts or schools will be posted on school and school board COVID-19covid 19 advisory sections.

Reporting COVID-19 absences in schools

School boards must report on a daily basis any confirmed cases of COVID-19covid 19 (PDF) within schools to the Ministry of Education via the school absence online reporting tool (ART). COVID-19covid 19 board leads should verify the accuracy of this information. The purpose of collecting this data is to monitor the potential impact of COVID-19covid 19 across schools in Ontario. Note that the absence data collected will not be for the purpose of contact tracing and no personal information will be collected by the Ministry of Education.

Any suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19covid 19 within the school must be reported to the local PHU to support case management and contact tracing and other activities in accordance with all applicable legislation, including the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act. Public health officials will determine any additional steps required, including but not limited to the declaration of an outbreak and closure of classes or schools. If requested by the PHU, school principals may dismiss individuals or cohorts while awaiting the results of the public health investigation.

Cases that occur in itinerant workers and occasional staff should be flagged to the PHU.