'Everybody is sick and tired' of COVID-19 but rapid spread of deadly variants forced new restrictions
Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, might have summed up what a lot of Ontarians are thinking these days. "It's a tough time. Everybody is sick and tired of the whole thing. And we want to, you know, just get out and have a nice summer." Yaffe was commenting Thursday afternoon at a briefing from Queen's Park on the latest effort by the province to control the spread of COVID-19 by implementing the stay-at-home order, providing stricter measures for shopping in big-box stores and by scaling up the vaccination effort that began at 12:01 this morning, April 8. She said regional lockdowns had been put in place last week in different parts of the province in anticipation that the regional COVID-19 case counts would be diminished. "We were hoping that would have an effect across the province," said Yaffe. "We were not seeing the anticipated effect and the numbers were getting dangerously high, particularly in terms of hospitalizations and ICUs (Intensive Care Units)." She said what health officials began seeing was a spiked increase in the number of variants of concern (VOCs, new strains of the coronavirus), which are more transmissible and were resulting in more younger people being hospitalized.
Public Health Sudbury reports 19 cases for April 8, Ontario reports 3,295
Sudbury's health unit is reporting 19 new cases of COVID-19 for today, Thursday April 8, the same number of new cases that was reported on Wednesday. Public Health also said there are now 262 active cases being monitored. Also, since the Public Health Sudbury & Districts (PHSD) began tracking COVID-19 cases just over one year ago, there have been 1619 total COVID-19 cases confirmed locally. PHSD also said 1,357 of those cases have been resolved. With respect to where the newest COVID-19 cases might have occurred, (PHSD) daily update page reported that 18 of the new cases were found to have occurred within the Greater Sudbury Area. One new case was reported from the wider Sudbury district. Provincially, Public Health Ontario has reported 3,295 new cases of COVID-19 today (April 8). Today's report includes 2,576 recoveries and 19 new deaths. The deaths reported today include three people between 40 and 59 years old, 12 people between 60 and 79 years old, and four people over the age of 79 years old. The province has reported 134 new hospitalizations since yesterday, and 32 new admissions of COVID-19 patients to intensive care units.
Laurentian inks deal to take over Huntington U’s gerontology program
Laurentian and Huntington universities have inked an agreement that will see Huntington’s gerontology program housed within the Faculty of Arts at Laurentian beginning this fall. The two universities negotiated terms after their federated relationship was terminated last week. The gerontology program will continue to be delivered through online learning. Current students can remain in the same program, and new students will be admitted in the ordinary course, the schools said in a joint media release. No programs and courses will be taught at Huntington for credit toward a Laurentian degree after the conclusion of this existing term. All students currently enrolled in programs at Huntington will be offered options to graduate through programs and courses offered directly by Laurentian. An analysis of each student’s existing program and the options available to them has already been undertaken by Laurentian, the schools said. Huntington will continue as an independent university and own and operate its buildings on the Laurentian campus, including its residence.
‘No way around tax levy increases,’ says finance committee chair
Greater Sudbury city council approved their 2021 budget late in the evening on April 6, producing a balanced budget that will result in a four-per-cent property tax increase. The net impact on property tax bills for most residents will actually be closer to a 3.6 per cent hike, as the Ontario government has reduced education taxes across the board this year. While council had initially committed to a tax rate increase of no more than 3.9 per cent, Ward 7 councillor and finance committee chair Mike Jakubo was satisfied with the fact that they were able to settle on an increase only slightly higher, at four per cent. "There's really no way around levy increases every year if council and the community at large are going to want to maintain the same number of services and the same level of services," said Jakubo.
Beheaded statues at the Grotto may be replaced by spring 2022
It will take at least another year to replace the eight religious statues that were beheaded at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes last May. The statues, which are in the care of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, depict the Stations of the Cross and were originally installed in 1953. The vandalism has the diocese perplexed. “We don't know what the exact purpose behind it was,” David Sirois, assistant financial administrator of the Diocese said. “Those statues have been there for almost 70 years and they've never been touched before. We are saddened by it.” Replicas of the bronze statues are being crafted by artist Timothy P. Schmalz (of Sculpture by Timothy P. Schmalz Inc.), who will reproduce each statue as a whole, rather than replace the broken portions separately.
Province: New COVID-19 protection measures for schools when students return after March Break
With schools across most of Ontario staying open for in-person learning during the four-week stay-at-home order, the Ontario Government is pushing newer and updated measures to protect schools against COVID-19. The Ministry of Education said this will include refresher training, enhanced cleaning and asymptomatic testing. Also, as these new measures are being introduced, the government will begin offering registration for vaccinations to education workers during the spring break. Dr. David Williams, Ontario's chief medical officer of health, has confirmed that schools will be kept as safe as possible with appropriate health and safety measures in place. Williams said this would include the following measures:
-
On-site confirmation of self-screening;
-
Refresher training upon return from April break;
-
Outdoor instruction when possible;
-
Enhanced cleaning during the April break;
-
Curriculum-linked activities for students;
-
Letter to parents promoting best practices for a safe April break; and
-
Asymptomatic testing expansion.
Then and Now: Hints of Sudbury's history hidden in the names of our streets
Ever wonder where prominent Sudbury streets got their names? So did writer Vicki Gilhula, so for the latest installment of Then & Now, our Community Leaders Program series on local history, she endeavoured to find some answers. Turns out, names are not just something on a map or your GPS, they provide hints about local history. In late 1886, a CPR official in Montreal drafted a site plan and assigned street names for the wilderness settlement. Sudbury had been considered a depot and temporary construction site three years earlier. The discovery of nickel in the area ensured its future. Streets running east to west in the central area would be named for trees such as Elm, Larch, Cedar, Spruce, Beech, Pine, Oak and Walnut. Streets running north to south would be named for Canadian governors-general such as Durham, Lisgar and Lorne and later, Grey, Minto and Stanley.
Cloudy with a chance of showers on Friday
Friday will be cloudy with a moderate chance of showers in the morning and early afternoon and a high of 17 C. Wind becoming south 20 km/h gusting to 40 in the morning. UV index 3 or moderate. Tonight, it will remain cloudy with a 60-per-cent chance of showers and a low of 9 C.
