COVID-19 pandemic has added a few additional challenges to solving the city’s 7,000 annual missing persons cases.Insp. Marc Philippot, specialized investigations, told 680 CJOB that school closures have cut off a major information pipeline when it comes to tracking down missing children.“When we’re out looking for children, to return them home safely, one of the resources we rely on is the schools — be it the teachers, resource officers that are in the schools, school counsellors,” Philippot said.“Obviously they have a more intimate knowledge of the circle of friends and the hang-arounds and can provide us that information to check on.“Not having that at play has definitely been difficult for our investigators to work through.” Boy found.