Ottawa's French Catholic school board closes two more schools due to COVID-19

Two more of Ottawa's French Catholic schools will be closed ahead of the Christmas break because of COVID-19.

The Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est (CECCE) lists three school closures on its COVID-19 dashboard Monday: Montfort elementary school, Franco-Cité high school and St. Jean-Paul II elementary school.

St. Jean-Paul II elementary school has been closed since Dec. 13 because of a COVID-19 outbreak. The school board says there are still eight active cases at the school. Ottawa Public Health's COVID-19 dashboard shows 19 total cases since the outbreak began on Dec. 7.

Montfort elementary school was added to OPH's COVID-19 outbreak page on Monday. The outbreak began Dec. 17, according to the health unit. The CECCE says there are currently seven active COVID-19 cases among students and/or staff (the board does not differentiate between the two on its COVID-19 page.)

An outbreak at Franco-Cité began Dec. 15, according to OPH. The school board says there are 14 active cases at the school.

The CECCE's Christmas break begins Friday.

Additionally, the Ottawa Catholic School Board has listed St. Peter High School as closed, with four active student cases and three active staff cases as of Sunday. The OCSB is on its Christmas break until Jan. 3, 2022, and the board says it will not be updating its COVID-19 dashboard over the holidays. OPH says an outbreak at St. Peter High School began Dec. 15, with eight total cases since then.

According to Ottawa Public Health, there are active COVID-19 outbreaks at 22 elementary schools and eight secondary schools in the city.