NEWS

Local news in and around Aylmer and Elgin County

Time ticking down to change schooling method

August 27, 2020 | 0 Comments

Education Director Mark Fisher, at a meeting of Thames Valley District School Board on Tuesday night, Aug. 25, announced that based on abrupt changes required by the province on how schools would work in September, TVDSB would allow parents to change the way they had opted for their child to be educated for the coming…

Aylmer and area COVID-19 cases bounce back up

August 26, 2020 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 16 cases of COVID-19 confirmed by testing in Aylmer and area on Wednesday, Aug. 26, an increase of five from the previous day. Bayham increased by one to six cases, while St. Thomas and area remained steady at six. Woodstock and area appeared to have increased to three from two,…

Masks “mandatory” for TVDSB JK-Grade 3, but won’t be enforced

August 25, 2020 | 0 Comments

Thames Valley District School Board, in an 8-2 vote Tuesday night, Aug. 25, with Chairman and Middlesex Trustee Arlene Morrell abstaining, adopted a motion, which they all admit can’t be legally enforced, to make face masks mandatory for children in all public schools and on buses. Backers of the motion said they wanted the board…

School opening pushed back to Sept. 14

August 25, 2020 | 0 Comments

The opening of elementary schools in Thames Valley District School Board has been pushed back by almost a week to Monday, Sept. 14, instead of Tuesday, Sept. 8. (London District Catholic School Board is expected to do the same.) Even then, elementary pupils won’t all return on that day. Instead, half the pupils will attend…

Cases down by two in Aylmer, one in St. Thomas

August 25, 2020 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 11 ongoing cases of COVID-19 confirmed by testing in Aylmer and area on Tuesday, Aug. 25, a decrease of two from the previous day. The number of cases in St. Thomas also declined slightly, to six from seven, while Bayham remained steady at five and Woodstock at two. One new…

Southwestern Public Health tracking 27 ongoing COVID-19 cases

August 24, 2020 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health on Monday, Aug. 24, was tracking 27 ongoing cases of COVID-19 in Elgin County, St. Thomas and Oxford County. The electronic “dashboard” on the health unit’s website had been down for several days as Southwestern and other health units in Ontario switched to a new reporting system. Thirteen of the ongoing cases…

Man held in commercial fishing boat fire

August 23, 2020 | 0 Comments

A man, 19, is in Elgin Ontario Provincial Police custody after a commercial fishing vessel was heavily damaged by a fire on Saturday night, Aug. 22. The fire was being investigated as an arson by police and the Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office, Elgin OPP Constable Troy Carlson said. The fire was spotted at 11:45 p.m.,…

“Dashboard” down for COVID-19 cases

August 20, 2020 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health, along with other health units in Ontario, is moving to a new electronic system for tracking ongoing cases of COVID-19 confirmed by medical testing. As a result, Southwestern stated on a social media page, it would not be updating the “dashboard” tracking numbers for each municipality until Monday, Aug. 24. It did…

Case numbers fluid

August 19, 2020 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 16 ongoing cases of COVID-19 confirmed by testing in Aylmer and area on Wednesday, Aug. 19, an increase of one from the previous day. Bayham had seven cases, down from nine, and St. Thomas and area seven compared to eight the previous day. Tillsonburg and area remained the same at…

New cases in Aylmer, St. Thomas

August 18, 2020 | 0 Comments

Aylmer and area saw a slight increase in ongoing cases of COVID-19 confirmed by medical testing on Tuesday, Aug. 18, going up to 15 from 14 on Monday. St. Thomas and area saw a bigger jump to eight cases from four, while Bayham experienced a substantial decrease, to six cases from nine. Tillsonburg and area…

Another drop in local cases

August 17, 2020 | 0 Comments

Southwestern Public Health on Monday, Aug. 17, was reporting another good-sized reduction in the number of COVID-19 cases confirmed by medical testing in Aylmer and area. That number dropped to 14 Monday from 19 Sunday. Bayham was reported at nine cases, seeing its own substantial reduction from 13, St. Thomas went to four from five…

Big drop in Aylmer cases

August 16, 2020 | 0 Comments

The number of ongoing COVID-19 cases confirmed by testing in Aylmer and area took a big drop on Sunday, Aug. 16. Southwestern Public Health was reporting 19 ongoing cases, compared to 27 just the previous day. Bayham remained at 13 cases and St. Thomas at five, while Tillsonburg saw a slight reduction, to five from…