News Headlines

Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday, Jan. 12, ordered all Ontarians to “stay at home” effective Thursday, Jan. 14. He said he has declared a new state of emergency for the province given the rapidly rising number of COVID-19 cases, the threat the health care system would be overwhelmed and an increasing number of deaths. Ontarians…

Southwestern Public Health announced three more deaths, all in Oxford, linked to COVID-19 on Tuesday morning, Jan. 12. They included two deaths at PeopleCare long-term care home in Tavistock, two women, one 96 and one 94, and one woman, 93 from the general population of Oxford. That brings the total number of deaths linked to…

Eighty residents out of 92 at Maple Manor Nursing Home in Tillsonburg have confirmed cases of COVID-19, and nine more have died, meaning only three are still untouched by the virus. Southwestern Public Health announced Sunday, Jan. 10, the number of cases involving residents of the home had rising to 80 from 69 the previous…

The Ontario Ministry of Education announced on Thursday, Jan. 7, that elementary schoolchildren in Southern Ontario won’t go back to attending classes in person until Monday, Jan. 25. The move was in response to the “alarming rate” at which new COVID-19 cases were being confirmed across Ontario, the government said in a statement. Instead, pupils…

Aylmer Police served a summons to Aylmer Church of God on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 6, for allegedly violating COVID-19 pandemic emergency orders, and a crowd of members was there to greet officers. When an Aylmer Express photographer went to the church at 4:30 p.m. after a report of activity there, he stopped well south of…

Southwestern Public Health Medical Officer of Health Dr. Joyce Lock on Tuesday morning, Jan. 5, announced seven deaths had occurred in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford linked to COVID-19 in just the previous 36 hours. That brings the total number of fatalities in the Southwestern region to 23. Six deaths were related to institutional outbreaks,…

Southwestern Public Health was reporting two more deaths linked to COVID-19 on Monday, Jan. 4, bringing the total to date in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford to 16. The health unit said both were related to a large outbreak at Maple Manor long-term care home in Tillsonburg. One of the fatalities was a man in…

Southwestern Public Health on Saturday, Jan. 2, was reporting the 14th-death in its region linked to COVID-19. This death, involving an Oxford man in his 50s, was the second in two days. Between Thursday, Dec. 31, and Saturday, Southwestern reported 93 confirmed new cases in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford, including 18 on New Year’s…

Have a safe and happy New Year from all of us at AE! A reminder that we are closed for the holidays (Dec 25-Jan 3) and the next print edition will be published January 6, 2021. We will continue to post breaking news to our website during this time. Holiday print edition schedule: Dec. 23…

Southwestern Public Health on Thursday, Dec. 31, recorded its biggest one-day increase in COVID-19 cases after recording 71 confirmed new cases. The previous record, 47, was set on Dec. 21. In a statement issued on Dec. 31, the health unit said that new forecasts indicated 100 or more daily new cases starting in early January.…