News Headlines

Aylmer Police Chief Zvonko Horvat, in a statement issued Friday, Jan. 29, said more officers would be on hand this Sunday, Jan. 31, for an expected drive-in service at a church on John Street South (Church of God). He said, “Community safety and well being and enforcement of laws is a top priority for Aylmer…

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce announced Thursday, Jan. 28, that children in Thames Valley District School Board and London District Catholic School Board who wanted to could return to in-person classrooms effective Monday, Feb. 1, but that was later amended. Elementary children can return to classes on Monday, Feb. 1, but secondary students won’t until…

Aylmer Police Chief Zvonko Horvat, in a statement Wednesday, Jan. 27, said that 47 persons who were in violation of COVID-19 emergency orders at an indoor and outdoor gathering at Aylmer Church of God on Sunday, Jan. 24, had been identified. Officers were now in the process of handing out tickets to 29 local participants,…

Aylmer Police Chief Zvonko Horvat, in a statement Monday, Jan. 25, announced that a Church of God service held on Sunday, Jan. 24, was under investigation for “blatant” alleged violations of Ontario’s COVID-19 emergency orders. Police were identifying individuals who participated and the event’s organizer, he said. Those determined to have broken emergency orders would…

An Elgin man in his 70s has become the 53rd death linked to COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, Southwestern Public Health reported on Sunday, Jan. 24. Confirmed COVID-19 cases, which had been in general decline in the area, made a resurgence, with 40 new cases on Sunday, up from 26 on Saturday. The…

Southwestern Public Health, in a new weekly news briefing on Thursday, Jan. 21, provided more detailed numbers on the massive outbreak of COVID-19 that has claimed the lives of 17 residents at Maple Manor Nursing Home in Tillsonburg. Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock, in response to a question, said the home had so…

Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce announced on Wednesday, January 20, that remote learning would continue for most school boards, including the Thames Valley District School Board. TVDSB, in its own statement, said “Students will not return to in-person learning on (Monday) January 25,” as originally planned. Students with complex special needs now attending in-school…

Southwestern Public Health reported a substantial decrease in both the number of new cases and the number of ongoing cases it is tracking in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Wednesday, Jan. 20. However, the health unit also recorded another death linked to COVID-19, an Oxford man, 83, residing at PeopleCare long-term care home in…

Southwestern Public Health recorded three more deaths linked to COVID-19 on Monday, Jan. 18. The dead included an Oxford woman, 94, a resident of Maple Manor Nursing Home in Tillsonburg, the site of a large-scale outbreak that has to date claimed 17 deaths. Two Oxford men, one 73 and one 75, also died. That brings…

Southwestern Public Health reported the deaths of two persons from Elgin County connected to COVID-19 on Thursday, Jan. 14. One, a resident at Carresant Care Bonnie Place in St. Thomas, was a woman, 82, and the other was a man, 79. The total number of deaths connected to COVID-19 in the Southwestern region of Elgin,…