This month’s meeting of the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health seemed to be mostly about looking ahead. While there are still issues around COVID-19, there was a lot of discussion around other public health matters like young people and making sure they’ve gotten all their other vaccination shots, plus also some initial conversation about planning for the future of public health beyond COVID. Continue reading “RECAP: Board of Health Looks to the Future, Including Catch-Up Jabs for Kids”
The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Board of Health will welcome February with their monthly meeting, and it will be a very interesting agenda that will look at the programs that might have suffered from all the emphasis on COVID-19 in the last few years, and the immediate plans and priorities for the public health unit in the next 12 months. Infectious diseases is going to be a pretty big topic, but this won’t be the COVID-19 show. Continue reading “MEETING PREVIEW: Board of Health Meeting for February 1, 2023”
The inevitable announcement of the first case of monkeypox in our public health coverage area should come with the declaimer that residents should not panic since this disease doesn’t spread anywhere close to as easily as the recent virus that caused a global pandemic. But having said that, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health has identified a local case of monkeypox, and anyone with skin-to-skin contact with such a patient should be aware. Continue reading “First Case of Monkeypox Found Locally”
Monkeypox has officially landed. It had been suspected in the Montreal area along with other locations in the U.S. and Europe, but late Thursday night, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) confirmed that there are definitely two cases of the virus in the region. Although this virus is only fatal in a very small portion of cases, the idea that this could be another public health crisis on the coat tails of a global pandemic has people concerned. Continue reading “Public Health Canada Confirms Monkeypox in Canada”
During his usual Thursday press briefing, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore tried to offer assurances about the re-opening of schools next week and the potential re-opening of the provincial economy the week after. Meanwhile, teachers and public health units still have concerns about what’s coming, and whether teachers and parents have everything they need when the bell rings on Monday morning. Continue reading “Moore Gets Questioned About the Future As Schools Have Concerns”
Less than 24 hours after announcing that the first two cases of the Omicron variant here in Ontario, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore took to the media studio at Queen’s Park to talk about it. Since the announcement of the discovery of Omicron last week, the uncertainty has prompted a nearly thousand point dip in the Dow Jones, and a new round of travel restrictions, but Moore wants us all to stay cool. Continue reading “After 2 Cases Found, Moore Says Ontario is Ready for Omicron”
On Tuesday, many communities around the world marked International Overdose Awareness Day, a chance to campaign to end drug overdoses, and remember without stigma the people who have died as well as the family they all left behind. In Guelph, a few hundred people gathered in St. George’s Square at lunch hour to remember another pandemic that has only gotten worse since COVID-19 hit our shores last year. Continue reading “Less Stigma, More Support the Message on Overdose Awareness Day”
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”
Despite the economic issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, local Guelph and area governments and agencies added more than 500 more names to the so-called “Sunshine List” in 2020. The yearly disclosure of the government workers in the province making 100,000 or more was boosted largely by medical fields, but the number of employees on the list in almost all agencies went up. Continue reading “Despite the Pandemic, Guelph and Area Adds 500 More to “Sunshine List””
We’ve heard a lot about one health crisis this year, the one tied to a global pandemic that broke the economy, brought healthcare to the brink, and pretty much shutdown society for four months earlier this year. But while COVID-19 has been our preoccupation in 2020, there has been another public health issue in our community at the same time, and it’s one that started before the pandemic and has stayed with us through the darkest days of the last 10 months. Continue reading “GUELPH POLITICAST #251 – The Other Pandemic of 2020”
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