COVID-19 cases in Hamilton schools are inevitable, says medical officer of health

Students and staff becoming infected by COVID-19 in schools is inevitable saysthe city's medical officer of health.

Dr. Elizabeth Richardson made the comment during a virtual town hall Thursday evening.

"We do think we're going to see some cases and we shouldn't consider that a failure if that does happen because we are living in a world with COVID-19," she said.

"We'renot in a state to eliminate COVID-19 yet, but are doing what they can to keep the risks low."

She stressed sending kids to school is a personal choice for families, buttouted the benefits of sending kids to school.

It's a decision many parents are makingThursday night, to meet the public school board's registration deadline as classes begin on Sept. 8.

Schools have been rushing to put in safeguards and prepare to teach students during the pandemic, finally getting a chance to review the provincial outbreak plan that wasreleased on Wednesday.

Despite that, more than 20 per cent of students in the public school board will belearning remotely and about 15 per cent areopting foronline learning in the Catholic board.

Uptick in local COVID-19 cases

Richardson also noted thatactive cases have "swung back up" this month.

"That's a little bit of not so good news in thatwehad a low of 14 active cases at the end of July," she explained.

"Unfortunately,we've also seen some people are going out when they do have symptoms."

Richardson explained that active cases are rising eitherfrom family and close friends spreading it among each other or from people not adhering to social bubbles and circles of 10 people.

Hamilton Public Health knows of67 active cases in the city. That's up four from Tuesday.

There have been978 positive tests in Hamilton since the start of the pandemic in March. The virus has killed 45 people but 866 have recovered.

There are fewer than five people in hospital at Hamilton Health Sciences with COVID-19.

Brant

In Brant County and the city of Brantford, local public health know of seven active cases. The virus has infected 160 people in total and has killed five, but 148 have recovered.

None of the seven active cases are in hospital.

Haldimand-Norfolk

There are 24 people inin the two counties thathave COVID-19.There have been 475cases, of which419 people have recovered and 32 have died.

Halton

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Halton fell to 29 on Thursday, compared to 23 on Tuesday. Twenty-five people in the region have died and 914 have recovered, for a total caseload of 968.

Nine of those active cases are in Burlington where seven people have died of the virus and 191have recovered, for a total of 207cases.

Niagara

The number of active cases in Niagara dropped by sixto 20 on Thursday. Overall, 933Niagara residents have tested positive for COVID-19, 849of whichhave recovered.Sixty-four people have died.