Welcome to the create-your-own-adventure stage of the pandemic, where your individual experience will be determined by some combination of geography, financial resources, intuition and dumb luck. There is no guidebook, no consensus, no procedure to follow on this Day Eleventy-Billion of Canada’s war against COVID-19. So you woke up with a sore throat, headache and…
Category: Community News
Surge in COVID-19 cases reignites calls for better masks for health and education workers
Ontario will offer N95 masks to school staff when classes resume next week, a move that comes after unions and parents have long called for the measure. The decision, amid a surge of cases because of the highly infectious Omicron variant, is expected to stoke debate about who should be offered the higher-quality equipment, which…
Ontario Is Changing The Rules For COVID-19 Testing & How Long You Need To Isolate
Ontario has officially decided to update its COVID-19 testing and isolation rules due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant. Following the new updates to capacity limits and back-to-school plans across the province, Ontario unveiled its new plans for who is eligible for PCR tests, what to do now if you’ve been exposed to or have COVID-19, and appropriate use of…
20 people who took on the biggest job of the pandemic and helped Ontario get its shots
The goal was daunting, seemingly unattainable: Vaccinate 90 per cent of Ontario’s population — more than 13 million people — against COVID-19. Double doses would help protect our family and neighbours, lower our own risk of getting sick and push us past the pandemic that has upended daily life and led to the deaths of…
Ontario to stop collecting COVID-19 numbers from school boards, suspend reporting of cases in schools
The Ontario government will halt the collection of COVID-19 case counts from publicly funded schools and will suspend all public reporting of new infections among students and staff starting next week. The change was detailed in a memo from the Ministry of Education sent to school boards on Thursday. “Given recent changes to case and…
New Year’s Eve celebrations muted by Omicron COVID-19 variant
Twenty twenty-one crept off with farewell celebrations around the world mostly muffled by the pandemic. But good news from South Africa – where authorities lifted a curfew and said Omicron had crested – brought hope for a happy New Year. The Australian city of Sydney was one place where the New Year charged in with…
Ontario will require a scannable QR code for proof of COVID-19 vaccination starting Jan. 4. Here’s what you need to know
As of Jan. 4, 2022, Ontarians will need to have enhanced COVID-19 vaccine certificates with a scannable QR code if they want to eat inside restaurants, go to movie theatres, gyms, concert venues, and other non-essential businesses that require proof of vaccination. Currently, vaccine passports are only required for those aged 12 and older. The…
On this Omicron New Year’s Eve, take it outside, experts say: ‘The risk isn’t zero with an outdoor gathering, but it’s much, much less’
Even if only a small percentage of infected people get sick enough to go to the hospital, they could still wind up overburdening the health care system, given how widely Omicron is predicted to spread. If you’re planning to host a New Year’s Eve party, health experts urge you to make it virtual or outdoors….
Province set to announce fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine for nursing home residents
Residents of long-term-care facilities have been eligible for third doses as of last August, and by Dec. 23 some 84 per cent had received it. They are to get their fourth jab three months after their third. The province will start rolling out fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses to long-term-care residents who will become eligible three…
The Wisdom of Resilience
What can older adults teach us about supporting mental wellbeing? Senior citizens sit at the center of life’s oldest paradox. For many, the closer they come to death, the more their emotional wellbeing seems to increase. After a lifetime of losing loved ones, suffering defeats, and experiencing physical decline, older adults still manage to take…