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Southwestern Public Health has announced that effective Friday, Feb. 18, teens ages 12 through 17 who had already received two doses of COVID-19 vaccine would become eligible for a third, booster dose at mass immunization clinics in St. Thomas and Woodstock. Recipients must be at least 12 on the day they receive the booster, and…

Southwestern Public Health reported 104 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 from the weekend in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Monday, Feb. 14, or an average just under 35 a day. The number of ongoing cases being tracked by the health unit dropped to 394 Monday from 483 Friday. Currently, 24 area residents are hospitalized…

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday, Feb. 14, announced further relaxation of COVID-19 public health restrictions would come on Thursday, Feb. 17, and that by the end of the month health passports will no longer be required to be admitted to certain settings such as indoor restaurant dining. The latter, he noted, was subject to…

Southwestern Public Health on Friday, Feb. 11, announced three deaths related to COVID-19, including a St. Thomas man in his 30s and two related to an outbreak at Elgin County’s Elgin Manor long-term care home in Southwold, a man in his 90s and a woman in her 80s. Their deaths bring to 147 the total…

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Friday morning, Feb. 11, announced he was declaring a provincial state of emergency and that emergency orders would follow to break the “siege” of Ottawa by anti-COVID mandate protesters and the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit. He said those temporary orders, with fines of up to…

Southwestern Public Health announced on Wednesday, Feb. 9, that an Elgin man in his 80s with COVID-19 had died, the 144th such fatality since the pandemic began in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford. The health unit also reported that 20 area residents were hospitalized with COVID-19, five on them in intensive care units, on Wednesday,…

Southwestern Public Health has announced that a pop-up COVID-19 vaccination clinic will be held at the Edison Museum in Vienna on Tuesday, Feb. 15, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This clinic will be by appointment only. Bayham has the lowest rate of residents immunized with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine in the Southwestern Public…

Southwestern Public health announced on Monday, Feb. 7, that an Oxford man in his 80s with COVID-19 had died, bringing the total number of such fatalities so far since the pandemic begin in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford to 143. The health unit also reported that 29 area residents were hospitalized Monday with confirmed cases…

In a statement issued Friday, Feb. 2, Elgin County announced that two of its three long-term care homes, Terrace Lodge in Malahide and Bobier Villa in Dutton, were currently free of COVID-19 outbreaks that started in January. Elgin Manor remains in an outbreak, with confirmed cases of the virus in one residential wing and suspected…

A St. Thomas woman in her 90s and a woman, also in her 90s, residing at Caressant Care Bonnie Place long-term care home in St. Thomas, died in COVID-19 related cases, Southwestern Public Health reported on Friday, Feb. 4. Bonnie Place is one of 12 long-term care and retirement homes in Elgin, St. Thomas and…