Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced on Thursday, Jan. 20, that effective Jan. 31, public health restrictions put in place in an effort to cope with the highly-contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19 would start to be eased. Among other measures, restaurants will be able to re-open to inside dining to a maximum of 50 percent of…
Elgin County’s long-term care homes issued an update on COVID-19 outbreaks on Wednesday, Jan. 19. Terrace Lodge in Malahide continues to have a confirmed outbreak in one of its four residential wings. All other wings are now out of suspected outbreak status. A total of 19 residents tested positive for the virus, seven of which…
Southwestern Public Health was reporting Wednesday, Jan. 19, that 48 residents of Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford were hospitalized with COVID-19, an increase from 27 the previous day. The number of patients reported to be in intensive care units doubled to eight from four. SWPH Communications Manager Megan Cornwell said the higher numbers reflected a…
Southwestern Public Health is urging parents and children, teachers and other school staff and childcare workers to sign up for a COVID-19 vaccination clinic being held at the Ontario Police College on Friday, Jan. 21, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Several hundred appointments were still open there, Jaime Fletcher, who manages the health unit’s…
COVID-19 has continued to spread in long-term care and retirement homes in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford over the last week. Southwestern Public Health reported on Tuesday, Jan. 18, that outbreaks of at least two or more confirmed cases were being tracked at 18 out of 34 such homes in its area, up by five…
Southwestern Public Health reported on Monday, Jan. 17, that 26 Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford residents were hospitalized with COVID-related cases, down by one from Friday, Jan. 14. Four area residents were in intensive care units Monday, down from seven Friday. And, for the first time in a week, the health unit announced no new…
Elgin County on Friday, Jan. 14, reported that Terrace Lodge long-term care home in Malahide remained in a COVID-19 outbreak with a total of 11 residents who have tested positive for the virus, four of which have since recovered, and three staff members, two of which have now recovered. One resident at Terrace Lodge died…
Southwestern Public Health announced Friday, Jan. 14, that a “pop-up” COVID-19 vaccination clinic would be held at the Ontario Police College on Friday, Jan. 21, from 10 a.m. through 3 p.m. Another will be held at the Tillsonburg Community Centre on Tuesday, Jan. 25, during the same hours. Between them, the clinics will have 1,100…
A woman in her 80s residing at Valleyview Home, a long-term care facility in St. Thomas, on Friday, Jan. 14, became the 11th fatality related to COVID-19 in five days in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford. Hers was the 128th such death in the Southwestern Public Health area since the pandemic began. Two deaths were…
Southwestern Public Health on Thursday, Jan. 13, announced the COVID-related death of a Woodstock woman, over 100 years old, who was a resident of Woodingford Lodge long-term care home. Hers was the 127th death in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and the 10th area virus-related death since Monday, Jan. 10.…
Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce, in an announcement Wednesday, Jan. 12, said that with children back in classes starting Monday, Jan. 17, vaccination clinics would be offered in schools to make immunizations as accessible to as many as possible. “We believe so strongly that children belong in school,” and the clinics would help that to…
Southwestern Public Health on Wednesday, Jan. 12, announced the deaths related to COVID-19 of four area residents, including a man in his 50s from Elgin, an Oxford man in his 60s, an Oxford woman in her 80s and a man in his 70s who was a resident at Secord Trails Care Community, a nursing home…