SYDNEY, N.S. -- Schools across Nova Scotia will be empty for the next two weeks.

Schools had already been closed in the Halifax area and when a COVID-connected case was found at Sydney Academy, one of Cape Breton's largest high schools, it seemed to many like a final straw of sorts, in the Sydney area.

"We simply have very, very few meaningful protections in schools to keep people safe," Paul Wozney.

Earlier today, Nova Scotia Teachers Union President Paul Wozney says his membership would support a two-week circuit breaker and that some of the teachers he was hearing from were "terrified."

"People know what's going on in schools," Wozneysaid."They know there's no physical distancing. Masking has been optional for months. The fact that Dr. Strang made an announcement last week didn't magically make everybody wear a mask."

At dismissal on Tuesday, only a trickle of students could be seen leaving one Sydney elementary school.

At a middle school just down the road, attendance was also low.

Renee Sampson brought her 12-year-old son home from Whitney Pier Memorial Middle School at mid-day.

"He texted and said there's only 29 kids out of the whole school that normally has 320 kids," Sampsonsaid. "So, we just figured they're not learning right now. They're just kind of hanging out in class."

When the bell rang to end classes on Tuesday, Grade 12 student Andrew Sutherland said he was counting on it being his last day for the time being.

"It did seem pretty pointless," Sutherland said. "In my global geographic class, there were only about six or seven. For math, we only had about five."

While Tuesday's shutdown was essentially what he was calling for, Wozney points out that closing schools -- even when it's necessary -- creates sudden child-care problems for some families, particularly those in which both parents still have to work.

"It creates tension, because you've got kids whose parents can't afford to keep their kids at home," Wozney said.

On Tuesday evening, the Nova Scotia Department of Education announced one new schools with a COVID-19 case -- Strait Area Education Recreation Centre (SAERC) in Port Hawkesbury.

"Public health will be in touch with any close contacts of positive cases and advise of next steps, including testing," the education department wrote in a news release. "Everyone who is a close contact will be notified, tested and asked to self-isolate for 14 days."

Information about all covid-19 cases connected to public schools can be found here.