News Headlines

Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore announced on Thursday, Dec. 30, that the expected return of children to schools on Monday, Jan. 3, was being delayed until Wednesday, Jan. 5, as a result of the rapid spread in COVID-19 cases involving the Omicron variant across the province. He also stated that testing…

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 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…

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 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…

A member of Malahide Fire Service’s technical rescue team, left, and a man who had been stranded at the end of the Port Bruce pier were pulled back to safety by fellow firefighters and Ontario Provincial Police officers on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 11., and he was turned over to Elgin County paramedics. Malahide Fire Chief…

Southwestern Public Health’s board was told at a meeting Friday, Dec. 10, about a “very significant” outbreak of COVID-19 at a homeless shelter in St. Thomas. Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock said the outbreak was consuming a great deal of time and effort for the health unit and other community agencies, and just…

The medical officers of health for Southwestern Public Health, Middlesex-London Health Unit and Huron-Perth Public Health issued joint, strongly-worded recommendations on Thursday, Dec. 9, urging restricting any indoor holiday gatherings to no more than 10 participants and only including those who are double-vaccinated, as well as working from home, if possible, in response to increasing…

Southwestern Public Health announced on Wednesday, Dec. 8, the COVID-19 related deaths of a St. Thomas man in his 50s and an Oxford man in his 70s. That brings the total number of such deaths so far this month to seven, with six of the fatalities from Elgin and St. Thomas. The death toll since…

Southwestern Public Health on Tuesday, Dec. 7, announced the COVID-19-related deaths of two more Elgin residents, a woman in her 50s and a man in his 60s. That brings the number Elgin deaths in the last week to five. The total number of Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford residents who have died of the virus since…