NEWS

Local news in and around Aylmer and Elgin County

Viral growth of Ontario, Southwestern area COVID-19 cases

December 24, 2021 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 110 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Friday, Dec. 24, a record high since the pandemic began. Similarly, across Ontario 9,571 new cases were confirmed Friday, another new record, nearly doubling the one set the previous day at 5,790. Southwestern is now tracking 479…

Southwestern: 89 new cases in one day

December 23, 2021 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 89 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Thursday morning, Dec. 23, the highest single-day total since the pandemic began. The previous day, 29 new cases had been confirmed. The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit jumped to 397 Thursday from…

Family confirms Ken Jones died in fire

December 22, 2021 | 0 Comments

The family of the late Ken Jones of Malahide has confirmed that he died in an early-morning house fire on Nova Scotia Line in Malahide Monday, Dec. 20. Granddaughter Kariesha Blackwood of Aylmer told the Express that her grandmother Linda only escaped by climbing out a window and down an adjacent tree. Ken and Linda’s…

Southwestern positivity rate at all-year high

December 22, 2021 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health reported Wednesday, Dec. 22, that the positivity rate, the percentage of COVID-19 tests coming back confirming the presence of the virus in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, has reached an all-time high for this year, at 6.8 percent as of Dec. 12. That compares to a positivity rate of 4.6 percent as…

SWPH: up to six affected by vaccine dispensing error

December 21, 2021 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health, in a statement on Tuesday, Dec. 21, announced an error, supposedly a harmless one, had been made in dispensing COVID-19 vaccine at its mass-immunization clinic in St. Thomas on November 30. Up to six individuals, or about two percent of those who attended the clinic that day, might have received a dose…

Two more deaths, including a centenarian

December 21, 2021 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health announced on Tuesday, Dec. 21, that two more residents in the Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford area, including a St. Thomas woman who was over 100 years old and an Oxford woman in her 80s, had died as a result of COVID-19. That brings the total number of fatalities in the area…

Southwestern records 128 new COVID cases over weekend

December 20, 2021 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health on Monday, Dec. 20, was reporting 128 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 from the weekend in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, or an average of just under 43 per day. The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit rose to 313 Monday from 234 on Friday. The rate of…

One person escapes Nova Scotia Line fire

December 20, 2021 | 0 Comments

Elgin Ontario Provincial Police Constable Norm Kelso reported Monday morning, Dec. 20, that one person had escaped a fire that fully-engulfed a home on Nova Scotia Line between Springwater and Sawmill roads, but a search was being made for others who might have been home at the time. OPP and Malahide Fire responded to the…

Port Burwell GO-VAXX visit cancelled

December 20, 2021 | 0 Comments

A planned walk-in clinic aboard the GO-VAXX COVID-19 immunization bus at Port Burwell’s fire station has been cancelled, Southwestern Public Health announced on Monday morning, Dec. 20. The clinic was supposed to be held today (Monday). The health unit suggested anyone who planned to visit the bus should instead visit www.covidvaccineLM.ca to book an appointment…

Ford: new COVID-19 restrictions

December 17, 2021 | 1 Comment

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, in response to the rapid spread of new confirmed COVID-19 cases through the province and the discovery of the highly-contagious Omicron variant, announced new public health restrictions to try to curb additional cases on Friday, Dec. 17. Among them, the government ordered that a maximum of 10 persons would be allowed…

Ontario records over 3,000 new cases in one day

December 17, 2021 | 1 Comment

A total of 3,124 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Ontario on Friday, Dec. 17, the highest that number has been since May. The number of new cases the previous day had been 2,421. Southwestern Public Health on Friday reported 36 new confirmed cases in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, down from 46 Thursday.…

Health unit focusing on vaccinations

December 16, 2021 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health will focus all its efforts on delivering COVID-19 vaccinations, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock said in a news briefing on Thursday, Dec. 16. That comes after Premier Doug Ford announced Wednesday, Dec. 15, that in response to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the virus, anyone 18 and…