For the first time since the second week of December, the areas represented by Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health will be entering the Orange-Restrict level. Eight health units are on the move after this week’s announcement about the changes in COVID-19 restrictions from Queen’s Park, and Guelph’s good news comes with some slight adjustments to our own local COVID protection protocols. Continue reading “Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph is Going Orange Again”
Every two-and-a-half days in Canada, a woman or girl is killed, and that’s a “persistently stable” rate of murder. That means it hasn’t changed since the University of Guelph’s Canadian Femicide Observatory for Justice and Accountability (CFOJA) started monitoring the situation three years ago. In their third annual report, the CFOJA noted that despite the pandemic, or because of it, femicide rates remain unchanged in our country. Continue reading “Femicide Rates in Canada Hold Steady, According to U of G Office”
Like how the Victoria Road Recreation Centre was once the location of the local COVID-19 assessment centre, the West End Community Centre is now a mass vaccination site. On Tuesday, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health opened the doors to their newest vaccine clinic set up in one of the two ice rinks at the rec facility on Imperial Road, part of their plan to make it easier to give out an increased number of jabs as more vaccine becomes available. Continue reading “Public Health Says They’re Ready to Scale Up on COVID Shots, Just Need More Doses”
They said not to take “hugs over masks” literally, but there was one guy on the corner soliciting hugs. They said it wasn’t an anti-mask protest, but at one point a speaker stopped everything to burn a mask before the cheering crowd. The messages were mixed, but the messaging was as plain as day. The anti-mask movement landed in St. George’s Square Sunday afternoon attracting around 50 people, mostly maskless, all eager to deflect from the reality of the situation. Continue reading “Conspiracy Theories and Science Denial on Display Downtown at “COVID is Over” Rally”
The City of Guelph puts out a lot of information on a weekly basis, and while it all ends up on the City’s website somewhere, wouldn’t it be easier to just scroll through it all on one easy-to-read article on Guelph Politico here…? Continue reading “CITY PAGES: Pandemic News, Newcomer Help, and Snow Plow Names”
Guelph has done pretty well avoiding the kind of anti-mask, anti-COVID restriction demonstrations that have popped in other places. (A mask burning event last weekend in Idaho comes to mind.) But this weekend, the controversy comes to town, and it seems like have a Who’s Who in anti-masking, anti-vaxxing and conspiracy theories are going to be on hand for the festivities. Continue reading “Anti-Mask Event Planned for Downtown Guelph This Sunday”
There was a lot of good news this week about the rollout of vaccines, but on Friday it was clear that there’s still some work that needs to be done to get us to the end of the pandemic. On Friday, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health announced that they are updating mask requirements to address the growing concerns of variants, while also trying to assuage doubts about the efficacy the latest vaccine. Continue reading “Public Health Changing Mask Orders, Still Promoting AstraZeneca”
Last week, the Government of Ontario announced further financial aid for cities for the 2021 fiscal year. The funds are desperately needed as we enter the second year of the pandemic, and the Provincial government wants to be seen as proactive as they get ready to deliver their next budget. So where is the money going to go, and who else just gave the City of Guelph a big cheque? Continue reading “Guelph Announces New Money from the Province and Alectra, Plus Budget News”
Thursday will mark the one-year anniversary of the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization, a declaration that will remain in place until the majority of people are vaccinated for COVID-19. That effort is proceeding carefully, but there is cause for a bit more optimism today as Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health is now taking names for the next phase of the vaccine rollout, and getting their lines jammed in the process.
Continue reading “Public Health Opens Vaccine Pre-Registration for Phase 2 Groups”
On Wednesday, a couple of U.S. states cancelled all COVID-19 restrictions to allow businesses to re-open to 100 per cent capacity and to no longer require mask mandates. That was speaking the language of one delegate at Wednesday’s Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health meeting who said that mandatory masking at area schools was “abuse” and “violates our basic rights.” Continue reading “Masking Skeptics Take Part in Board of Health Meeting”
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