SUDBURY -- The Sudbury-area daycare at St. John School in Garson is closed Friday following a confirmed case of COVID-19.
A letter to families at the Discovery Early Learning & Care centre was posted to the school's Facebook page Thursday night announcing the closure after an educator at the site tested positive for the disease.
"The St. John Site families were made aware of this late last night and into the early morning today, as we were instructed by Public Health Sudbury & Districts to close three cohorts as a precautionary measure until they had time to further investigate. We were allowed to offer child care for two cohorts today," said Tracy Saarikoski, the child care centre's executive director, in the letter to families. "In considering the safety and well-being of the children and team, and at this present time, public health is still contacting families and reviewing documents, we are making the decision to close the entire St. John School site tomorrow, Jan. 15 and wait for further direction from public health."
Despite the daycare closure, the Catholic elementary school remains open.
Saarikoski said families will receive another update after the daycare gets more direction from health officials.
This comes on the first day Ontario's new stay-at-home orders took effect.
Most schools in northern Ontario, which returned to in-classroom learning on Monday, are allowed to remain open with Ministry of Education officials citing the lack of reliable internet access and relatively low school-related cases and transmission of the disease for the reason the region being allowed to resume in-person classes.
As of Thursday night, the Sudbury and Manitoulin Districts have 73 active COVID-19 infections. A total of 126 new cases have been confirmed in this area since Christmas Eve, with 56 cases recorded as resolved in the same period.
