A week after the Ontario government lifted its mask mandate, the Kawarthas region has the highest COVID-19 wastewater signal in Ontario — a leading indicator of the number of COVID-19 cases in the community.

According to the most recent data published by the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, the Central East region — which includes Peterborough Public Health, Haliburton, Kawartha, and Pine Ridge District Health Unit, and Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit — is reporting the highest wastewater concentration of the virus that causes COVID-19.

Sampling of wastewater for the virus is the most accurate method for estimating COVID-19 transmission, now that the Ontario government has restricted eligibility for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing to at-risk people. People infected with COVID-19, even if they aren’t showing symptoms, can shed the virus in their stool.

Dr. Peter Jüni, the science table’s departing scientific director, estimated last week there are between 20,000 and 25,000 daily infections in the province based on the wastewater signal.

“We are now starting to see exponential growth again and what worries me is that it looks as if it will be relatively steep,” Jüni said. “It’s really important for people to take it slow and not get ahead of themselves with increasing their contacts, with going to crowded places and with dropping their masks.”

According to the science advisory table, the COVID-19 wastewater signal is a “weighted mean of standardized, biomarker-normalized concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 gene copies” sample across 101 wastewater treatment plants, pumping stations, and sewersheds in the province’s 34 public health unit regions. The science advisory table says there’s a five-to-seven day lag between the detection of the virus in wastewater and the diagnosis and reporting of COVID-19 cases.

As of March 16, based on complete data, the concentration of the virus in wastewater in Central East region was around 0.8, double the provincial average of around 0.4. As of March 23, based on incomplete data and provisional estimates, the concentration in Central East region was approaching 1.5 — more than double the provincial average of 0.7 for the same period.

In terms of how this breaks down for the health units in Central East Region, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit is reporting increases in the wastewater signal for Midland, Barrie, and Collingwood. As of Monday (March 28), Haliburton, Kawartha, and Pine Ridge District Health Unit is reporting a large increase in the wastewater signal for the Cobourg sewershed and a smaller increase for the Lindsay sewershed.

Unlike the other two health units in Central East region, Peterborough Public Health does not currently publish wastewater surveillance information on its COVID-19 dashboard. kawarthaNOW reached out to the health unit and was told current local wastewater data will be released sometime this week.

After Central East region, the next highest COVID-19 wastewater signals in Ontario are in Eastern region followed by the North and the GTA.

The test positivity rate in Ontario appears to be reflecting the increase in the COVID-19 wastewater signal.

On Monday, the Ontario government reported a test positivity rate of 17.9 per cent — the highest since late January — based on 6,243 PCR tests that were completed.

Although the wastewater signal continues to climb in Central East region as well as the rest of Ontario, it remains unclear what this means aside from an increase in daily infections.

While the number of people in Ontario hospitalized with COVID-19 has been gradually increasing over the past three weeks, the number of admissions to intensive care units has continued to decline.

In Peterborough and Lindsay, the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has remained relatively stable.

More than a week into spring, winter is not done with us quite yet.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for possible snow, ice pellets, and freezing rain on Wednesday afternoon and evening (March 30).

The special weather statement is in effect for Peterborough County, Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton, and Hastings County.

A mix of snow and ice pellets is expected to move into the area Wednesday afternoon and persist into Wednesday night. Freezing rain is possible before precipitation changes over to rain overnight on Wednesday or early Thursday morning.

A freezing rain warning may be needed as the system approaches. However, there remains considerable uncertainty regarding the timing and amount of freezing rain.

Untreated surfaces such as roads, parking lots, and walkways may become slippery.

This story has been updated with the latest forecast from Environment Canada, including removing the estimate of 5 cm of snow and ice pellet accumulation.

Home games for Electric City FC’s inaugural season will be played at the Fleming Sports Complex in Peterborough.

On Monday (March 28), Peterborough’s newest sports franchise announced a partnership with Fleming College to use the two lighted artificial turf fields, located at Fleming College’s Sutherland Campus, as Electric City FC’s home stadium for both men’s and women’s games during the 2022 League1 Ontario season.

“We are excited to play our inaugural season at Fleming College, overlooking the rolling hills of Peterborough County, on the beautiful campus of Fleming and home to the Fleming Knights,” says Electric City FC president Rob Jenkins in a media release. “We are thankful for the staff at Fleming College who have been great to work with and have been very accommodating in meeting our needs. We are excited to have them on board as a long-term partner as they have committed their support for the club for years to come.”

According to the media release, the partnership will see both Fleming College Athletics and Electric City FC promote Fleming Knights Soccer, Fleming College, and the community of Peterborough “as a must-visit destination for Canadian soccer fans from May to August.”

The two fields will be transformed into a home stadium that, in addition to the FIFA 1 Star certified soccer pitch, will feature local food vendors, music, a kids’ zone, beer gardens, a supporters’ area, a family zone, and a VIP area. The capacity of the stadium is being temporarily increased to 2,000 for the season.

“It is an honour for Fleming to be selected as the home stadium for the 2022 men’s and women’s League1 Ontario season,” says Fleming College President Maureen Adamson. “As a community partner and public asset, we look forward to welcoming athletes to our beautiful campus and strengthening our partnership with Electric City FC.”

The first Electric City FC men’s home game takes place on Saturday, May 7th, when the club takes on Windsor TFC. The following Saturday, the women’s team will kick off against Blue Devils FC of Oakville.

“We hope the international, national and provincial attention these games will draw will help to rejuvenate and shine a spotlight on this community, showcasing it to the rest of the country,” Jenkins says. “We are looking forward to an absolutely historic opening match at Fleming on May 7th.”

Season tickets are now to those who purchased season ticket deposits and will be available to the general public at 11 a.m. on Wednesday (March 30). Single=game tickets will be available to the public as of Tuesday, April 19th.

For more information about Electric City FC, including season tickets, visit www.electriccityfc.com.

Police have not yet located a missing 50-year-old man from the Buckhorn area and are asking the public for help.

Robert Ladoceur was last seen in Peterborough on Tuesday, March 22nd and is believed to be travelling by foot.

Police and family are increasingly concerned for his health and well-being.

Ladoceur is described as Caucasian, 5’9″, around 185 lbs with a muscular build. He has short brown hair and green eyes.

Investigators with Peterborough County OPP are asking rural property owners to check their fields and outbuildings in further attempts to locate Ladoceur.

Investigators are asking that anyone with information about his whereabouts to contact the OPP Communication Centre at 1-888-310-1122, the Peterborough County OPP detachment at 705-742-0401, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

Port Hope has joined the growing list of communities in Ontario offering the ability to pay for parking using your phone.

Beginning on Friday (April 1), residents and visitors in Port Hope will be able to use the HotSpot Parking app to pay for all parking at all metered and pay-and-display parking machines in the municipality.

“This new app makes parking easier and allows a diversified option for payments,” says Port Hope mayor Bob Sanderson in a media release. “By increasing the municipality’s technological capabilities, we are making it easier for residents and visitors to enjoy the downtown.”

To use the pay-by-phone option, you will need to install the free HotSpot Parking app, which is available for both Apple and Android devices. The app also provides alerts when parking time is almost up and the ability to extend your parking time. If there is parking time left over, drivers can apply the credit to their next trip or donate the credit to the United Way using the app.

HotSpot charges a 25-cent fee per use, or frequent users can pay $2 for a monthly membership or $20 for an annual membership for unlimited use. Memberships can also be used in other communities where the HotSpot Parking app can be used to pay for parking, including in Peterborough.

The introduction of the app does not affect the standard municipal parking rates, and residents and visitors can continue to use standard methods to pay for parking if they prefer.

For more information about the app and parking within the municipality, visit porthope.ca/parking.

Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay recently completed renovations to create a new operating room as part of its commitment to clear a pandemic-created surgical waitlist by the end of the year, and has already completed a successful total knee replacement in the new operating room.

The hospital received $442,100 in one-time and capital funding through the Ontario Ministry of Health’s Surgical Innovation Fund to complete the renovations, which brings the total number of active operating rooms in the hospital to seven.

Renovations in the operating room included new lighting and an anaesthetic machine, as well as equipment for both general surgery and orthopaedic surgery. The funding also covered the cost of training staff on the new equipment.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has presented challenges in the delivery of health care, including the ramping down of non-urgent and non-emergent surgeries and procedures,” says Ross Memorial Hospital president and CEO Kelly Isfan in a media release.

“Ross Memorial sincerely appreciates the Ministry of Health making the Surgical Innovation Fund available so that our operating room renovation was possible. The hospital will continue to use every available resource to ensure our community has access to the healthcare services they need.”

In the first year of the pandemic, between April 2020 and March 2021, Ross Memorial Hospital had a total of 5,700 operating room cases.

Dr. Sebastian Heaven, an orthopaedic surgeon at the hospital, performed the first procedure in the newly renovated operating room on March 17th. He and his surgical team completed a successful total knee replacement surgery on patient Georgina Lawrence.

“Our newly renovated operating room will substantially increase Ross Memorial’s capacity to perform surgeries and procedures for patients within our community,” says Jennifer Burns-West, the hospital’s director of surgery, obstetrics, pharmacy, dialysis, Health First, and surgical obstetrics and pharmacy.

“Our team is determined and working diligently to clear our surgical waitlist by the end of 2022.”

Around 70 people attended a Global Climate Strike event at Confederation Square in downtown Peterborough on Friday afternoon (March 25) to demand governments take action against climate change.

Local photographer Sean Bruce provided kawarthaNOW with photos and a video of the event, which was led by the Youth Climate Action Club of Peterborough-Nogojiwanong.

The group, which was formed last fall by four local elementary school students passionate about raising awareness about climate change, has since expanded to include over a dozen climate activists from nine to 14 years of age.

Friday’s event was part of Fridays for Futures, an international youth-led and organized grassroots global climate strike movement that started in August 2018, when a 15-year-old Greta Thunberg began a school strike for climate.

Several members of the Youth Climate Action Club spoke during the event at Confederation Square, demanding climate action from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments.

Their demands include halting new fossil fuel projects or pipelines, transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy, making a commitment to affordable and accessible green energy, ensuring clean water in all First Nations communities, providing free public transit, and preserving greenspace.

VIDEO: Global Climate Strike in Peterborough, Ontario (March 25, 2022)

Some of the messages displayed on participants’ protest signs included “Our house is on fire”, “There is no Planet B”, “You’ll die of old age, we’ll die of climate change”, “System change not climate change”, “We love the Earth”, and “The oceans are rising and so are we”.

For more information on the Youth Climate Action Club, visit them on Facebook and Instagram.

Here are some more photos by Sean Bruce of Friday’s event.

After more than a decade of planning, construction will begin later this year on Lindsay’s first-ever permanent community skatepark — thanks to the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the efforts of Boys & Girls Clubs of Kawartha Lake (BGC Kawarthas) and others in the community.

BGC Kawarthas has received a $475,000 grant under the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Community Building Fund – Capital Stream for the “Skate to a Better Future” project. The funds will help with the design and construction of the community skatepark as well as equipment costs.

“A new skatepark will be a fantastic addition to our community and will be a hub where youth can gather to participate in social sports like skateboarding and biking,” said Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott, who attended a funding announcement on Friday afternoon (March 25) at BGC Kawarthas in Lindsay. “This is a long-awaited project for Lindsay and I’m thrilled this grant will be able to bring the project to life with the help and guidance of BGC Kawarthas.”

The skatepark will be located next to the club’s outdoor basketball courts and will be completely accessible to George Street. Construction will begin in fall 2022. Once completed, the skatepark will be compatible with scooters, BMX bikes, and skateboards and will be available seven days a week for club participants as well as the public.

“The addition of a skatepark reinforces our value and impact to the community as a hub for children and youth,” said BGC Kawarthas executive director Amy Terrill. “With our youth services and sports teams adding programming to complement the public use of the new skatepark, we see it as an important way to offer safe recreational activities and support community health and well-being. That’s why we’re calling it our Skate to a Better Future project.”

Planning for the community skatepark at BGC Kawarthas began in 2010, when the club held focus groups with youth and the community. Since then, support for the project has continued to grow to include club participants, the Kawartha Lakes Police Service, the Lindsay business community, and active youth groups.

“I would like to congratulate BGC Kawarthas for turning this vision into reality,” said Kawartha Lakes police chief Mark Mitchell. “A purpose-built skatepark will address a void in our municipal recreation infrastructure and will attract young people who may not participate in more traditional recreational activities.”

“BGC Kawarthas is ideally suited to be the caretaker of this facility and to ensure that it is a safe and welcoming environment for all,” he added. “As chair of the advisory committee for the Kawartha Lakes community safety and well-being plan, I am also excited that the skatepark will be focused on children and youth, which is one of the priority areas in our plan.”

For more information about BGC Kawarthas, visit www.bgckawarthas.com.

Two Lindsay residents and one Bowmanville resident are facing multiple weapon and drug-related charges after a police search on Thursday (March 24).

Members of the Kawartha Lakes Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Drug Unit and Street Crime Unit executed a search warrant at a residence on St. Paul Street in Lindsay, where they located and seized a revolver that had been reported stolen in Durham Region, a shotgun, three replica firearms, a set of brass knuckles, and a quantity of purple fentanyl.

As a result of the investigation, 23-year-old Tessa Geraghty of Lindsay, 23-year-old Andre Francis of Bowmanville, and 24-year-old Ruby Carlton-Neal of Lindsay were arrested and charged with possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, possession of prohibited device or ammunition for a dangerous purpose, unauthorized possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm, unauthorized possession of a weapon, possession of loaded prohibited or restricted firearm, breach of firearms regulation – store firearm or restricted firearm, possession of property obtained by crime, and possession of a schedule I substance.

In addition to those charges, Geraghty was also charged with failure to comply with probation order and Francis was also charged with failure to comply with release order and possession of property obtained by crime.

The accused are being held for a bail hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice in Lindsay on March 25, 2022.

The Ontario government and Hydro One are launching a pilot project to bring high-speed internet access in the municipality of Brighton in Northumberland County.

“Some of you may ask, why Brighton?,” said infrastructure minister Kinga Surma during an announcement in Brighton on Friday (March 25), where she was joined by Brighton mayor Brian Ostrander, Northumberland-Peterborough South MPP David Piccini, energy minister Todd Smith, and Hydro One CEO David Lebeter. “Brighton was selected as an underserved rural community with existing infrastructure where Hydro One is the residential electricity provider.”

The project is part of Ontario’s plan to bring reliable high-speed internet access to every community across the province by the end of 2025.

“If this pilot project is successful, this could allow for the exploration of high-speed internet initiatives in other rural communities that are similar to Brighton,” Surma added.

In the pilot project, Hydro One will use its existing infrastructure, including hydro poles, to install fibre cables provided by Hydro One’s telecommunications provider Acronym Solutions Inc. (formerly Hydro One Telecom).

“Over a century ago, Hydro One was created to electrify rural Ontario and northern Ontario,” Lebeter said. “That was done because electricity was seen as critical to economic development. It was seen as critical to providing quality of life for the citizens. And today is no different. Today we’re announcing broadband expansion into Brighton.”

The pilot project is expected to bring high-speed internet access to as many as 1,450 homes and businesses in the municipality of Brighton.

No information was provided on costs of the project or when it will be completed.