RECAP: Board of Health Hears Update as Pandemic Rapidly Changes Again

This month’s Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health meeting took place in the immediate shadow of a new stay-at-home and State of Emergency order from the Government of Ontario. In this Twitter thread covering the meeting, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Nicola Mercer and her staff explained the decision making behind the cancellation of in-person learning at area schools, and the progress of the region’s vaccination efforts. Continue reading “RECAP: Board of Health Hears Update as Pandemic Rapidly Changes Again”

Ontario Government Slams on Emergency Break for Whole Province

Our brief flirtation with re-opening the economy is over, and the third wave is officially here. That seems to be the news as the holiday weekend begins with the announcement that all 34 of Ontario’s public health authorities will be initiating a province-wide emergency break on Saturday April 3 at 12:01 am. The rapidly increasing COVID-19 case counts cannot be denied, and the Ontario government is taking drastic action. Continue reading “Ontario Government Slams on Emergency Break for Whole Province”

Del Duca Makes Campaign Stop to Tell Ford to Stop Campaigning

Ontario Liberal leader Steven Del Duca took centre stage across the road from Victory Public School. He was back in Guelph for one reason on Tuesday morning: to mark sure everyone in Ontario knows that he thinks Doug Ford is doing a bad job managing the pandemic, and that a new Liberal government elected after next year’s Provincial campaign will make some changes. Continue reading “Del Duca Makes Campaign Stop to Tell Ford to Stop Campaigning”

Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph is Going Orange Again

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”

Federal Minister Hears Concerns from Local Seniors

Times have been tough for seniors over the last year. COVID-19 has hit them especially hard, and even now with the vaccine rollout and some signs of recovery, the burden of this pandemic is still disproportionately falling on them. Seniors have a lot of concerns, so who better to hear them than Canada’s Minister of Seniors Deb Schulte, who took part in a virtual roundtable discussion with Guelph seniors’ groups Wednesday. Continue reading “Federal Minister Hears Concerns from Local Seniors”

GUELPH POLITICAST #265 – COVID-19: One Year Later…

Outside of the City of Guelph or Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, it’s hard to think of a group that’s been more entwined with the day-in/day-out issues of COVID-19 than the Guelph Family Health Team. From testing to vaccination, the Family Health Team has been in the thick of it through the pandemic, and one year later it seems timely to get some insight from behind the scenes. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #265 – COVID-19: One Year Later…”

Public Health Says They’re Ready to Scale Up on COVID Shots, Just Need More Doses

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”

CITY PAGES: Pandemic News, Newcomer Help, and Snow Plow Names

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”

Public Health Changing Mask Orders, Still Promoting AstraZeneca

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”

Public Health Opens Vaccine Pre-Registration for Phase 2 Groups

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”