Tag: Nicola Mercer

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

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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” →

Submitting to Pressure, Ontario’s Going Back Under State of Emergency

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After several days of sustained pressure, and an increasing number of new daily COVID-19 cases, the Government of Ontario finally bowed to the demands of doctors and public health workers around the province and issued a stay at home order. As of 12:01 am on Thursday, Ontario will be under its third state of emergency order since the start of the pandemic in a last ditch effort to get the virus, and its variants, under control. Continue reading “Submitting to Pressure, Ontario’s Going Back Under State of Emergency” →

Guelph Schools Stop In-person Learning as Local Infection Rate Doubles

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It was the news nobody wanted to hear on an Easter Monday, everyone was going back to school on Tuesday to stay home again on Wednesday. On Monday night, the two local school boards and Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health all announced their intention to cease in-person learning after Tuesday, for two weeks, as the province struggles with a rapid increase in new COVID cases from the third wave. Continue reading “Guelph Schools Stop In-person Learning as Local Infection Rate Doubles” →

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

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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

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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 Opens Vaccine Pre-Registration for Phase 2 Groups

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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” →

Masking Skeptics Take Part in Board of Health Meeting

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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” →

Public Health Unveils Next Phase of Vaccine Rollout Plan

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Many areas of Ontario, including Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, re-opened from the state of emergency on Tuesday. On that same day, Public Health unveiled its plan for a regional vaccine clinics, approved by Ontario’s COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution Task Force, that will go into effect once additional vaccine resources become available. For most people in the region, this is the plan that will get them their jabs. Continue reading “Public Health Unveils Next Phase of Vaccine Rollout Plan” →

Guelph Had a Case of the U.K. COVID Variant. A Month Ago.

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In mid-January, there was a super-spreader event on the University of Guelph campus where over 50 people had gotten together in the townhouse of East Residence for a Frost Week party. A couple of days before that though, there was another serious public health matter related to the pandemic, a case of one of the COVID-19 variants had infected a Guelph resident, and the public never knew it… Until now. Continue reading “Guelph Had a Case of the U.K. COVID Variant. A Month Ago.” →

GUELPH POLITICAST #260 – Still COVID [Winter Edition] with Dr. Mercer

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As this week started, the 7-day moving rate of confirmed cases is just a few points above the red line of 40 per 100,000, while the test positivity rate is now at 3.6 per cent. This is good news since it was just a month ago that the numbers were over 115 per 100,000 and five per cent. The numbers are going down, but where does the local medical officer think we stand in all this? Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #260 – Still COVID [Winter Edition] with Dr. Mercer” →