As the COVID-19 infection picture continues to brighten in the Peterborough region, the local presence of the more transmissible delta variant of concern (B.1.617.2, first identified in India) is casting a persistent shadow.

During a Peterborough Public Health media briefing held Wednesday (June 30), medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra reported that more than half of current local active cases are infected with the delta variant.

“From the data we’ve looked at, we believe the delta variant is now the dominant strain circulating here in Peterborough,” said Dr. Salvaterra. “For people who are unimmunized, and even people who have only one dose, the risk of infection from the delta (variant) if they are exposed is much greater.”

According to the latest vaccination numbers, 24.1 per cent of vaccine-eligible adults 18 and older in the Peterborough region have not yet been vaccinated. The percentage of unvaccinated youths aged 12 to 17 is 40 per cent.

“It is important to complete the series of immunizations now that the door has opened wide and people can book their second dose as soon as 28 days (after their first dose),” said Dr. Salvaterra, adding “We have lots of availability right now — lots of appointments that are open to book that second shot.”

“Yesterday we added another 12,000 open appointments online that can be booked for our local clinics,” she said. “Also, starting tomorrow, anyone 18 years old or older seeking a first dose can walk in at the Evinrude Centre between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. seven days a week.”

The flip side of the alarmingly high number of local residents who have not received any vaccine is much more encouraging, with 98,238 residents — 75.9 per cent of those aged 18 and over — having received at least one dose of vaccine. Meanwhile, the number of those fully vaccinated is at 44,060.

The current number of active cases in Peterborough city and county, Curve Lake and Hiawatha is reported as 15 — a decrease of two since June 24. After reporting no new cases at all last weekend, eight new cases have been recorded since Monday. Meanwhile, the number of close contacts of positive cases being monitored has also shown a major improvement at 39, down from 79 reported late last week.

While there are no outbreaks locally, Dr. Salvaterra did report another COVID-related death, bringing to 22 the number of deaths reported since the pandemic was declared. The person who died was a woman in her 70s who lived in the community and had received one dose of vaccine.

With Ontario now in step two of the provincial reopening plan, Dr. Salvaterra warned we must proceed “with caution and care as Ontario continues to experience outbreaks fueled by the delta variant”, adding, “We must be careful at this potentially fragile phase in our recovery.”

Among the activities now permitted, Dr. Salvaterra focused her remarks on sports league play and yard sales.

“Team sports must be modified to avoid personal contact,” she stressed. “Close contact sports, even outdoors, can come with risks due to the inability to keep that distance at all times. I recommend you choose one team sport to play this season. That will help keep your contacts low. Also, don’t share your food or water bottles or equipment with others. Do not share rides to practices or games.”

Yard sales, said Dr. Salvaterra, must be restricted to a gathering of 25 or less people at any one time, with physical distancing of two metres still a requirement.

Meanwhile, with the province having announced it will further ease restrictions in long-term care settings, Dr. Salvaterra broke down what that means.

“As of July 7, residents can have outdoor visits of up to 10 people,” she explained. “All residents may have up to two general visitors and two caregivers for an indoor visit. The limit on the number of people who can be designated as caregivers has been removed, personal care services will be able to resume, and the cohorting of residents will be relaxed during outdoor activities.”

Also commenting during Thursday’s briefing were Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef, Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien, Peterborough County Warden J. Murray Jones, and Peterborough board of health chair and Selwyn mayor Andy Mitchell.

As Canada Day is a federal statutory holiday, all government office and services and liquor stores are closed, with a few beer stores open in selected locations. Most drug stores are open, as are many grocery stores and big box stores, except in Peterborough where all are closed. Recreational services, museums, art galleries, and tourist attractions remain closed because of the pandemic.

For your convenience, we provide this list of holiday hours for 266 selected businesses and services across the Kawarthas. This information comes from their websites and social media accounts, which may or may not be up to date, so please always call them first to confirm their hours (we’ve included phone numbers), especially when you are travelling any distance.

Where you see “call to confirm hours”, that means we don’t have a lot of confidence the hours listed on a business’s website are up to date. If your business or organization is listed and the hours are incorrect, please let us know by using our content feedback form. We do not list restaurants as there are too many to linclude.

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Some members of the community want the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board to know, “in God’s eyes, we’re all gay”.

That’s one of a series of messages painted on rocks and signs which, along with Pride flags, adorn the sidewalks at the entrance to the Catholic school board’s headquarters, located at Holy Cross Catholic Secondary School and the Catholic Education Centre at 1355 Lansdowne Street West in Peterborough.

Last Tuesday (June 22), members of the school board voted 4-3 against a proposal to install secondary flagpoles at Catholic schools for the purpose of displaying ‘special purpose’ flags — most notably the Pride flag representing the LGBTQ2S+ community.

That decision prompted Jewel McDonald, whose children are in the Catholic school system, to launch an online petition at change.org/p/pvnccdsb-we-want-the-pride-flag-at-our-pvnccdsb-schools demanding the board reconsider the “infuriating” decision.

McDonald originally set a goal of obtaining 1,200 signatures. As of the date of this story, the petition now has more than 12,200 signatures and is likely to hit 15,000, making it one of the most-signed petitions at change.org.

As for the painted rocks, signs, and flags installed at the board’s headquarters, the theme is one of love and inclusion, with messages including “Love is love”, “Be kind”, “Queer is beautiful”, “God loves everyone”, and “God loves all the children”.

In addition, a Pride flag hung on the Holy Cross and Catholic Education Centre sign reads “God loves gay!”, with another Pride Flag on a bench reading “Happy Pride Month!”.

kawarthaNOW was unable to find out who organized the display.

Kawartha Land Trust, the only non-government charitable organization committed to protecting land in the Kawarthas, recently announced its newest protected property: the Jones Wetland, donated by Ross Jones.

Located southwest of Fenelon Falls in the municipality of Kawartha Lakes, the 50-acre property is located directly adjacent to the Fell Wetland — a 50-acre property donated to Kawartha Land Trust by Allan Fell and his family in 2019 and protected by the organization in 2020.

Now that both properties are protected, this doubles the amount of conserved land in a provincially significant wetland that provides critical habitat for numerous species. Kawartha Land Trust will protect and care for the land in perpetuity, ensuring no future government can change the zoning on the land for another purpose.

The Jones Wetland has been in the Jones family for three generations. John Jones, Ross’s grandfather, originally bought the land in 1946. Called the ‘Woodlot’ by the Jones family, the property has since been passed down to Ross Jones from his parents.

In recent years, both Ross Jones and his sister Marilyn Falls wanted to pass the property on but did not want someone to purchase it and destroy the natural elements of the land. They chose to donate the property to Kawartha Land Trust to protect it from loss or development.

While the Jones family did some cutting on the property in 1950, the property has remained untouched since. Left it to grow freely over the years, the property has significant natural features and habitats including mixed swamp, cattail and willow marsh, and an upland forest dominated by white ash, sugar maple, and basswood trees.

“It’s amazing how the trees have been able to take over the land and have been free to grow,” Ross Jones says, who recalls that, after some of the initial cutting by his grandfather, raspberries grew on the property every summer and their family “lived off of the raspberries.”

With the property now protected by Kawartha Land Trust, nature and wildlife — including many species at risk — will be free to thrive.

Recent research has found that just under three per cent of the world’s land remains ecologically intact, with undisturbed habitat and minimal loss of its original animal species.

Previous research had estimated 20 to 40 per cent of the world’s land had been unaffected by human activity, but the new research finds only boreal and tundra biomes in east Siberia and northern Canada, parts of the Amazon and Congo basin tropical forests, and the Sahara Desert are intact.

Kawartha Land Trust protects 22 properties in the Kawarthas comprising more than 4,500 acres of important and diverse types of land, and assists in the management of one additional property.

One of Kawartha Land Trust’s goals when protecting a property is to ensure public access, but only when it is compatible with the long-term protection goals of the property and its features and when it corresponds with the wishes of the land donor. Due to its environmentally sensitive nature, the Jones Wetland property is not open for public access.

The property was secured with the additional support of the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Land Trust Alliance, through the Greenlands Conservation Partnership, which helps conserve ecologically important natural areas and protect wetlands, grasslands, and forests that help mitigate the effects of climate change.

For more information about Kawartha Land Trust and to make a donation, visit kawarthalandtrust.org.