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Southwestern Public Health announced on Thursday, Jan. 27, that an Elgin man in his 70s had become the 137h COVID-19 related fatality in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford since the pandemic began in March of 2020. The health unit also reported that 85 new cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed Thursday, up from 54 Wednesday.…

Effective immediately, Southwestern Public Health’s three COVID-19 vaccination clinics are resuming “walk-in” hours, where no appointments are needed, to prioritize specific groups, including pregnant women, anyone eligible seeking a first dose, and seniors aged 70 and older seeking a booster. Walk-ins for these groups will be between 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. during regular operating…

Elgin County issued the following update on COVID-19 outbreaks at its three long-term care homes on Monday, Jan. 24: Terrace Lodge long-term care home has had a total of 19 confirmed cases involving residents, 11 of whom has since recovered. Two deaths have occurred. Terrace Lodge has four confirmed cases among its workers, three of…

An Aylmer man, 60, was defrauded of $141,000 over seven months in a scam involving the online “crypto currency” Bitcoin, town Police Chief Zvonko Horvat reported on Monday, Jan. 24. Between January and July of 2021, the man set up an account through the purported “SPX Markets” online investment company. Over the course of seven…

Southwestern Public Health announced on Monday, Jan. 24, that two persons had died in COVID-19-related cases over the weekend, an Elgin man in his 60s and an Oxford woman in her 80s. The total number of Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford residents who have died since the pandemic began now stands at 132. SWPH also…

Southwestern Public Health announced on Friday, Jan. 21, that a woman in her 70s, a resident of Woodingford Lodge long-term care home in Woodstock, had died with COVID-19. That brings the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford since the pandemic began to 130. Hers was the second such…

Due to relatively few appointments being made for a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic at the Ontario Police College on Friday, Jan. 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., it’s now been opened up to a wider range of potential recipients. Originally, it had been focused on schoolchildren and their parents, educators, childcare workers and school…

Southwestern Public Health was reporting outbreaks of COVID-19 in 21 out of 34 long-term care and retirement homes in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Thursday, Jan. 20, up from 18 the previous day, a trend blamed on the highly-contagious Omicron variant of the virus. The health unit also announced that 47 local residents were…

St. Thomas Elgin General Hospital announced Thursday, Jan. 20, that a COVID-19 outbreak on its fifth floor acute medicine had been declared over. In a statement, STEGH said that the outbreak was declared after three patients on the unit tested positive for the virus on Jan. 7. The hospital had immediately implemented additional measures to…