Severn Court Student Residence at 555 Wilfred Drive in Peterborough provides off-campus student housing primarily to Fleming College students, as well as students of Seneca College Aviation and Trent University. (Photo: Severn Court Management Company)
A student infected with COVID-19 in a recent outbreak at Severn Court Student Residence in Peterborough has died, according to Peterborough Public Health.
“The individual was a male in his 30s who lived at Severn Court Student Residence,” states a media release issued by the health unit on Tuesday (March 16). “He was diagnosed with a COVID-19 variant of concern and hospitalized outside the region last week before passing away yesterday.”
On March 17, CTV News identified the man as Zachary Root, an accounting student at Fleming College.
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The outbreak at Severn Court Student Residence at 555 Wilfred Drive in Peterborough was first declared on February 27. The outbreak, which was connected to at least one large gathering held at the privately owned student housing complex near Fleming College on February 20, is the largest to date in the Peterborough area.
“We acknowledge that the partygoers had no malicious intent toward my brother,” said Zachary Root’s brother Brandon in an email to CTV News. “There were students consistently knocking on his door throughout the night trying to get him to come and join in but he remained inside with the door locked.”
Root’s brother also told CTV News that Zachary did not participate in any of the parties, that he was fastidious about wearing a mask, practising physical distancing, and hand washing. He was also concerned about his fellow students not following public health measures.
“He cared about everyone being happy, safe and wanted to make sure he was doing what he could to protect others and stop the spread of COVID-19,” Root told CTV News. “He would want this event to reinforce the vital importance of our actions and adherence to public health guidelines.”
According to local medical officer of health Dr. Rosana Salvaterra at a virtual media briefing last Thursday (March 11), the total number of positive cases associated with the outbreak had climbed to 56 students — including a student who was hospitalized.
In its media release confirming the death of the hospitalized student, Peterborough Public Health states there have now been 59 cases associated with the Severn Court outbreak, all of which have screened positive for a variant of concern. To date most cases have been resolved, and there are only five active cases that remain linked to the outbreak.
“We send our deepest condolences to the family, and know that this is a painful tragedy for our entire community,” Dr. Salvaterra said. “As the youngest person to die locally from COVID-19, it reminds us how serious this pandemic is, that youth are not immune from its worst outcomes, and that we all have a role to play in ending it to prevent future tragedies.”
Dr. Salvaterra acknowledged outrage many in the community are experiencing about the impact of the outbreak, which resulted in the Peterborough region being moved into the ‘Red-Control’ level of the province’s COVID-19 response framework, and encouraged residents to speak with those they know or seek professional supports and limiting time on social media.
“The need to express our feelings is very real,” she said. “However, I think engaging in forums like social media is not as healthy as talking with someone who you can truly relate to.”
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Fleming College president Maureen Adamson has issued a message of condolence on the student’s death.
“On behalf of the Fleming College community, I would like to express our deep sadness regarding the recent passing of a resident of Severn Court,” Adamson said. “We mourn the loss together with our community and share our heartfelt condolences with the family and friends of the deceased.”
Adamson added that flags at all Fleming College campuses will be flown at half-staff for the next two days in honour of the loss.
Counselling and support services are available to all members of the Fleming community. Students and employees can reach Counselling Services by calling 705-749-5530 x1296.
In addition, Webex drop-in counselling services are available on Wednesday (March 17) at 1 to 3 p.m. and on Friday (March 19) from 1 to 2 p.m. at flemingcollege.webex.com/meet/nancy.verduyn.
The original version of this story quoted a family member who publicly posted about the death on Reddit. As that family member has since deleted the posts and their Reddit account, kawarthaNOW has rewritten this story to exclude any of this material out of respect for the family.
The story has been updated to include the message of condolence from Fleming College and related information.
The story has been updated to include the report from CTV News.
If you live in Peterborough, Northumberland, Kawartha Lakes, or Haliburton and are unemployed, want to re-enter the workforce, or are trying to find a better job, the Workforce Development Board wants to hear from you.
By completing the Worker Impact Survey at workerimpactsurvey.com, you can share information about your employment challenges.
The Workforce Development Board — a not-for-profit organization located in Peterborough and funded by the provincial and federal governments to provide labour market information, coordinate employment and training services, and engage employer communities — will use the results of the survey to help to support local recommendations for training and skills development initiatives.
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The 10-minute survey, which is available until April 30th, is completely confidential. Responses will be used for statistical purposes and published in aggregate form only.
The results will be shared with community stakeholders to provide a better understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on the workforce and to increase awareness of the local labour supply, employment barriers for job seekers and those not participating in the labour force, and more.
The Workforce Development Board has joined with five other local workforce planning boards in eastern Ontario (Gananoque, Belleville, Cornwall, Ottawa, and Pembroke) who are also conducting the survey in their respective regions.
“The workforce planning boards of eastern Ontario are collaborating to better understand how workers have been affected by COVID-19, the obstacles workers face finding or keeping gainful employment, and the type of education and skills training supports that workers require across the region,” says Jennifer Lamantia, CEO of the Workforce Development Board.
“By sharing your insights and feedback, you are providing timely, relevant and local data that assists with the work that we can do together at a local level to develop employment-related initiatives.”
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In addition to the survey, each workforce planning board will host a focus group. The results of the survey and focus group will be shared in June with the final report publicly available in July.
As an added incentive, those who complete the survey and provide their email address will be eligible for a draw of one of five $100 prepaid VISA cards.
A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. (Photo: Lisa Ferdinando)
A by-appointment-only COVID-19 vaccination clinic opens at the Lindsay Exhibition on Thursday (March 18).
Operated by Ross Memorial Hospital with the support of the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit, the drive-through clinic at 354 Angeline Street South in Lindsay will be providing vaccinations only for people born in 1941 or earlier.
Vaccinations are by appointment only and must be booked through the provincial booking system at www.ontario.ca/bookvaccine or by calling 1-888-999-6488. Appointments are not available through local health care providers or the local public health unit.
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You must have an appointment to be vaccinated at the Lindsay Ex clinic. Anyone who arrives without an appointment will not receive a vaccination.
As the clinic is operating as a drive-through, people with appointments will remain in their vehicles for the duration of their appointment. There will be signage and hospital staff on-site to help with navigation.
Those with appointments are asked to arrive around 10 minutes prior to their appointment time to check in. They must bring their Ontario health card and should wear a loose and comfortable shirt.
Vaccinated people will be monitored in their vehicles for an additional 15 minutes (or 30 minutes if they have a history of allergic reactions).
Everyone in a vehicle must wear a mask covering their mouth and nose when interacting with staff at the clinic.
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,268 new cases, with the seven-day average of daily cases decreasing by 51 to 1,350.
Today’s new cases include 70 more cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant, for a total of 1,106. The R(t) value for variants of concern — the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specific time (t) in a partially immunized population — has increased by 0.12 to 1.41.
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 10 new cases to report and an additional 17 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 9 to 99. See below for details for each health unit in the region.
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Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (366), Peel (220), and York (147).
There are double-digit increases in Hamilton (71), Thunder Bay (61), Ottawa (57), Durham (53), Halton (47), Sudbury (33), Simcoe Muskoka (33), Niagara (27), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District (19), Waterloo (18), Brant (17), Lambton (14), Eastern Ontario (13), and Windsor-Essex (10), with smaller increases in Northwestern (9), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (9), Middlesex-London (8), and Southwestern (8).
The remaining 13 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 4 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 59% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (494) among people ages 20-39 followed by 335 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,114 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 93.8%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.7% from yesterday to 3.8%, meaning that 38 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 14.
Ontario is reporting 9 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 3 in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 12 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday).
Hospitalizations have increased by 98 from yesterday to 699, but more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has increased by 16 from yesterday to 298, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has increased by 1 to 187.
A total of 33,975 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 7,540 to 10,954.
A total of 1,191,553 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 33,198 from yesterday, with 287,283 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,668 from yesterday, representing 1.95% of Ontario’s population.
There are 110 new cases in Ontario schools, a decrease of 27 from March 12, including 91 student cases, 15 staff cases, and 4 cases among unidentified people. There are 32 new cases in licensed child care settings in Ontario, an increase of 12 from March 12, with 21 cases among children and 11 cases among staff.
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 10 new cases to report, including 5 in Haliburton, 3 in Northumberland, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Peterborough. There are no new cases in Hastings Prince Edward for the second day in a row.
There are 9 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 5 in Peterborough, 2 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There is 1 new hospitalization in Kawartha Lakes.
An additional 17 cases have been resolved, including 8 in Peterborough, 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward. An outbreak at Regency retirement home in Lakefield was declared resolved on March 15.
There are currently 99 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 9 from yesterday, including 55 in Peterborough, 17 in Northumberland, 12 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 4 in Belleville, 3 in Prince Edward County, 1 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and 1 in North Hastings), 10 in Kawartha Lakes, and 5 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 768 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (704 resolved with 9 deaths), 558 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (506 resolved with 55 deaths), 468 in Northumberland County (439 resolved with 12 deaths), 58 in Haliburton County (50 resolved with 1 death), and 439 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (421 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Northumberland on March 12.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 p.m. the previous day. Data from local health units is more current and is usually reflected in the provincial data the following day. There may be discrepancies between the Ontario data reported today (which is from yesterday) and the local health unit data reported today (which is from today).
Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 768 (increase of 1) Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change) Presumed variants of concern cases: 121 (increase of 5) Active cases: 55 (decrease of 7) Close contacts: 132 (decrease of 9) Deaths: 9 (no change) Resolved: 704 (increase of 8) Hospitalizations (total to date): 27 (no change)* Total tests completed: Over 45,050 (increase of 50) Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence (decrease of 1)** Vaccine doses administered: 10,320 (no change, last updated March 11)
*As of March 15, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change) and 19 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (no change).
**An outbreak at Regency retirement home in Lakefield was declared resolved on March 15.
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s service area is the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County.
The health unit provides reports from Monday to Saturday, excluding Sundays and statutory holidays. These numbers are from March 14 and 15.
Confirmed positive: 1,084, including 558 in Kawartha Lakes, 468 in Northumberland, and 58 in Haliburton (increase of 9, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 3 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton)* Cases with N501Y mutation: 28, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 23 in Northumberland (increase of 3, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Northumberland)** Active cases: 34, including 10 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 7 in Haliburton (net increase of 1) Probable cases: 1 in Kawartha Lakes (no change) High-risk contacts: 234, including 154 in Kawartha Lakes, 41 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (no change)*** Hospitalizations (total to date): 49, including 29 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)**** Deaths (including among probable cases): 68, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes, 12 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change) Resolved: 995, including 506 in Kawartha Lakes, 439 in Northumberland, 50 in Haliburton (increase of 8, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland) Tests completed: 152,883 (increase of 467) Outbreaks: CrossFit Lindsay, Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden (no change)
*The health unit states that total counts and counts for individual counties may fluctuate from previously reported counts as cases are transferred to or from the health unit based on case investigation details and routine data cleaning.
**The N501Y mutation has been identified in variants of concern including the B.1.1.7 UK variant, the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and the P.1 Brazilian variant.
***This total includes an additional 35 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 15, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 1 patient hospitalized with COVID-19 (increase of 1).
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 439 (no change) Confirmed variants of concern cases: 6 (increase of 1) Active cases: 12 (decrease of 1) Deaths: 6 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 421 (increase of 1) Tests completed: 75,700 (increase of 309) Vaccine doses administered: 12,508 (increase of 354) Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Belleville (no change)
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 319,374 (increase of 1,268) COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,106 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 70); 44 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (no change); 34 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change) VOC R(t): 1.41 (increase of 0.12, as of March 11)* 7-day average of daily new cases: 1,350 (decrease of 51) Resolved: 298,570 (increase of 1,114), 93.8% of all cases (decrease of 0.1%) Positivity rate: 3.8% (increase of 0.7%) Hospitalizations: 699 (increase of 98)** Hospitalizations in ICU: 298 (increase of 16) Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 187 (increase of 1) Deaths: 7,162 (increase of 9) 7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (no change) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,881 (increase of 3) Total tests completed: 11,789,084 (increase of 33,975) Tests under investigation: 10,954 (decrease of 7,540) Vaccination doses administered: 1,191,553 (increase of 33,198) People fully vaccinated (two doses): 287,283 (increase of 1,668), 1.95% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
*R(t) is a virus’s effective reproduction number, which is the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specific time (t) in a partially immunized population. To successfully eliminate a disease from a population, R(t) needs to be less than 1.
**More than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher.
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from February 12 – March 14, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from February 12 – March 14, 2021. The red line is the daily number of tests completed, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from February 12 – March 14, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 deaths in Ontario from February 12 – March 14, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Ontario from February 12 – March 14, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily doses administered, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily doses. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
In summer 2019, Peterborough GreenUP's Depave Paradise program and the Downtown Vibrancy Project planted a new garden at Euphoria Wellness Spa in downtown Peterborough. When impermeable asphalt is replaced by greenspace, it allows for water infiltration, reduces flooding and runoff, and creates much more inviting space. (Photo courtesy of GreenUP)
Depave Paradise is looking to transform pavement into greenspace in Selwyn Township.
A joint project of Green Communities Canada and local partners, Depave Paradise sees volunteers working together to remove unwanted pavement and plant gardens filled with native species in its place.
Replacing pavement with greenspace can help mitigate flooding, by allowing water to soak into the soil rather than running over the top of hard surfaces.
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It also reduces pollution that can happen when stormwater washes into the water system. Gardens planted with native species also help pollinators while enhancing the natural beauty of a community.
In 2019, local Depave Paradise partner Peterborough GreenUP transformed five locations, including in downtown Peterborough, with most of the projects more than 100 square metres
Now, Depave Paradise is looking for a business or property owner in Selwyn Township who has a large impermeable asphalt or concrete surface in an area with lots of public traffic.
In 2015, Depave Paradise removed 205 square metres of asphalt at the corner of Lansdowne Street and Brealey Drive in Peterborough and replaced it with greenspace. (Photos courtesy of GreenUP)
The ideal site needs to have 100 square metres of asphalt or concrete that could be removed and replaced with greenspace. The site also space for disposal bins, temporary storage of plant materials and equipment, and access to washrooms (or space for a portable toilet).
While there is no cost to the business or property owner, in-kind contributions of volunteers and donations of materials are encouraged and the owner is asked to make a commitment to maintaining the site.
Along with the environmental and community benefits, a Depave Paradise project can also add value to a property.
If you are a business or property owner in Selwyn Township with a property that meets these requirements, email acurrier@selwyntownship.ca to submit your property for consideration.
Submissions should include the address, size, and photos of the property. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 26th.
Depave Paradise will serve as a demonstration site for Selwyn Township’s upcoming Water Wise program in partnership with GreenUP. The program will provide residents with resources to incorporate water-conscious landscape design on their properties.
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,747 new cases, although the provincial government states today’s case count “may be higher than expected due to a data catch-up process” related to the provincial Case and Contact Management system.
With today’s cases, the seven-day average of daily cases has increased by 68 to 1,337. Today’s new cases include 12 more cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant (for a total of 1,036) and 1 more case of the B.1.351 South Africa variant (for a total of 44).
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 5 new cases to report and an additional 15 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 10 to 108. However, these numbers do not include Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton as the health unit does not issue updates on Sundays.
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Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (545), Peel (352), and York (163).
There are double-digit increases in Hamilton (93), Ottawa (83), Durham (55), Simcoe Muskoka (50), Sudbury (49), Niagara (48), Waterloo (48), Thunder Bay (40), Lambton (38), Halton (38), Windsor-Essex (28), Brant (23), Middlesex-London (13), Haldimand-Norfolk (13), and Eastern Ontario (12), with smaller increases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (9), Southwestern (8), Huron Perth (7), and Northwestern (6).
The remaining 12 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 2 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 55% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (624) among people ages 20-39 followed by 492 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,167 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 93.9%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.2% from yesterday to 3.1%, meaning that 31 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 13.
Ontario is reporting 15 new COVID-19 deaths today, with no new deaths in long-term care homes. Ontario has averaged 12 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday), but there have been only 2 new COVID-related deaths in long-term care homes over the past seven days.
Hospitalizations have decreased by 88 from yesterday to 601, but more than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher. The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs has increased by 7 from yesterday to 282, and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators has increased by 11 to 186.
A total of 47,618 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 11,262 to 18,494.
A total of 1,158,355 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 41,859 from yesterday, with 285,615 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 929 from yesterday, representing 1.94% of Ontario’s population.
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 5 new cases to report in Peterborough. There are no new cases in Hastings Prince Edward. Case information for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton is unavailable as the health unit does not issue updates on Sundays.
There are 4 new cases of presumed variants of concern in Peterborough, for a total of 116. However, only 1 case has been confirmed as a variant of concern.
An additional 15 cases have been resolved, including 14 in Peterborough and 1 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are currently 108 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 10 from yesterday, including 62 in Peterborough, 17 in Northumberland, 13 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 4 in Belleville, 1 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 3 in Prince Edward County, 1 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and 1 in North Hastings), 14 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 767 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (696 resolved with 9 deaths), 557 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (501 resolved with 55 deaths), 465 in Northumberland County (436 resolved with 12 deaths), 53 in Haliburton County (50 resolved with 1 death), and 439 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (420 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Northumberland on March 12.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 p.m. the previous day. Data from local health units is more current and is usually reflected in the provincial data the following day. There may be discrepancies between the Ontario data reported today (which is from yesterday) and the local health unit data reported today (which is from today).
Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 767 (increase of 5) Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change) Presumed variants of concern cases: 116 (increase of 4) Active cases: 62 (decrease of 9) Close contacts: 141 (decrease of 32) Deaths: 9 (no change) Resolved: 696 (increase of 14) Hospitalizations (total to date): 27 (no change)* Total tests completed: Over 45,000 (increase of 200) Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence, Regency retirement home in Lakefield (no change) Vaccine doses administered: 10,320 (no change, last updated March 11)
*As of March 12, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and 19 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (increase of 2).
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s service area is the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County.
The health unit provides reports from Monday to Saturday, excluding Sundays and statutory holidays. These numbers are from March 13.
Confirmed positive: 1,075, including 557 in Kawartha Lakes, 465 in Northumberland, and 53 in Haliburton (increase of 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)* Cases with N501Y mutation: 25, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 22 in Northumberland (increase of 4 in Northumberland)** Active cases: 33, including 14 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (net decrease of 1) Probable cases: 1 in Kawartha Lakes (no change) High-risk contacts: 234, including 154 in Kawartha Lakes, 41 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (net decrease of 30)*** Hospitalizations (total to date): 48, including 28 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)**** Deaths (including among probable cases): 68, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes, 12 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change) Resolved: 987, including 501 in Kawartha Lakes, 436 in Northumberland, 50 in Haliburton (increase of 4 in Northumberland) Tests completed: 152,416 (increase of 579) Outbreaks: CrossFit Lindsay, Hyland Crest long-term care home in Haliburton (increase of 1)*****
*The health unit states that total counts and counts for individual counties may fluctuate from previously reported counts as cases are transferred to or from the health unit based on case investigation details and routine data cleaning.
**The N501Y mutation has been identified in variants of concern including the B.1.1.7 UK variant, the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and the P.1 Brazilian variant.
***This total includes an additional 36 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 12, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports no patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
*****An outbreak was declared at Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden on March 12 based on a single case.
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 439 (no change) Confirmed variants of concern cases: 5 (no change) Active cases: 13 (decrease of 1) Deaths: 6 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 420 (increase of 1) Tests completed: 75,391 (increase of 3,989) Vaccine doses administered: 12,154 (increase of 210) Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Belleville (no change)
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 318,106 (increase of 1,747)* COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,036 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 12); 44 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 34 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change) VOC R(t): 1.29 (as of March 9)** 7-day average of daily new cases: 1,401 (increase of 64) Resolved: 298,570 (increase of 1,167), 93.9% of all cases Positivity rate: 3.1% (increase of 0.2%) Hospitalizations: 601 (decrease of 88)*** Hospitalizations in ICU: 282 (increase of 7) Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 186 (increase of 11) Deaths: 7,153 (increase of 15) 7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (no change) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,878 (no change) Total tests completed: 11,755,109 (increase of 47,618) Tests under investigation: 18,494 (decrease of 11,262) Vaccination doses administered: 1,158,355 (increase of 41,859) People fully vaccinated (two doses): 285,615 (increase of 929), 1.94% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
*The provincial government states today’s case count “may be higher than expected due to a data catch-up process” related to the provincial Case and Contact Management system.
**R(t) is a virus’s effective reproduction number, which is the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specifc time (t) in a partially immunized population. To successfully eliminate a disease from a population, R(t) needs to be less than 1.
***More than 10% of hospitals did not submit data for this report, so the actual number of hospitalizations may be higher.
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from February 11 – March 13, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from February 11 – March 13, 2021. The red line is the daily number of tests completed, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from February 11 – March 13, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 deaths in Ontario from February 11 – March 13, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Ontario from February 11 – March 13, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily doses administered, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily doses. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
At a media conference at Queen's Park on March 14, 2021, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announces the province's new online booking system and customer service desk for making COVID-19 vaccination appointments at provincial mass immunization clinics will launch on March 15 for residents who are 80 years of age or older in 2021. (CPAC screenshot)
Ontario’s new online portal for booking COVID-19 vaccination appointments at provincial mass immunization clinics is launching at 8 a.m. on Monday, March 15th — but the provincial government is urging only those eligible to receive vaccines to use it.
“It’s critical that everyone in Ontario understands how this portal works,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said during a media conference at Queen’s Park on Sunday (March 14). “So let me clear, because this could not be more important. When this launches tomorrow, it is only to book vaccine appointments for those 80 years of age or older.”
Until April, the website and customer service desk will only be available for booking appointments for Ontario residents who are 80 years of age or older in 2021 (born in 1941 or earlier). This means that a 79-year-old who turns 80 on December 31, 2021 is also eligible for an appointment.
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If an Ontario resident 80 years or older in 2021 doesn’t have access to the internet, or otherwise needs assistance, a person trusted to make an appointment on their behalf can do so instead.
The website is located at ontario.ca/bookvaccine, where people will be guided to make an appointment through the provincial booking system, or through their local public health unit if there is a local public health unit booking system or call centre in place.
Retired general Rick Hillier, chair of Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution task force, said the booking system will have more than 800,000 appointments available across the province. To support the administration of vaccines, 255 vaccination sites across the province are planned for March, including 153 mass immunization clinics.
When booking an appointment, people will be asked for information from their green Ontario health card (numbers on the front and back of the card are needed), as well as their birth date, postal code, and email address and/or phone number. At the time of booking, eligible people will schedule both their first and second vaccination appointments.
People 80 years or older who don’t have internet access or don’t have someone to help them, or who otherwise require assistance with booking, can call the Provincial Vaccine Information Line number at 1-888-999-6488 from Monday to Sunday between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
People who still have the red-and-white Ontario health card will also need to telephone, as the online system will not accept the older health cards.
To accommodate demand, Premier Ford said the information line will be staffed by 2,200 customer service representatives.
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From April to July, the system will be gradually opened up in five-year increments to adults aged 60 to 79. In July, the system will be expanded to include those 59 years of age and younger.
For the month of March, Ontario is expecting to receive 870,480 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 483,700 doses of the Moderna vaccine. Ontario has also received 194,500 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine the week of March 8th.
“We are ready to ramp up immediately to 150,000 vaccinations a day, we just need more vaccines,” Ford said. “We have the capacity to do 4.8 million in a month.”
As of March 14, Ontario has administered 1,158,355 doses of vaccine. A total of 285,615 people have been fully immunized with two doses of vaccine, representing 1.93 per cent of Ontario’s total population.
An estimated 70 to 90 per cent of the population needs to be fully immunized to achieve herd immunity.
Keira Sayeau with her young sons Hudson and Bennett in October 2020. On March 10, 2021, Sayeau was seriously injured when she was struck by a dump truck while crossing at the traffic lights at an intersection north of the the village of Colborne. (Photo: Keira Sayeau / Facebook)
A crowdfunding campaign has been set up for a 30-year-old mother of two young children who was struck by a dump truck last Wednesday (March 10) north of the village of Colborne.
Keira Sayeau was airlifted to a Toronto hospital with serious injuries after the accident, which happened on Wednesday afternoon when Sayeau and her children was crossing the intersection of Orchard Road and Percy Street south of Highway 401 at the traffic lights.
As Sayeau walked southbound across Orchard Road with her two sons, four-year-old Hudson and six-month-old Bennett, a northbound dump truck turning west onto Orchard Road struck Sayeau. Her children were taken to hospital as a precaution, where Bennett received treatment for minimal injuries.
“While loved ones and insurance will be able to help during the time it takes to get Keira back on both feet, running after the kids, we thought we would reach out to our amazing community to help supplement the time it takes for the family to find a routine during this transition,” Piper writes on GoFundMe.
“While we await the bones to heal, we are looking to help Keira stay off her feet by organizing cleaning services, dog walking services and food delivery. Zac will have his hands full with the boys and it will be hard to keep Keira from helping.”
More than $4,000 has already been raised of the $5,000 goal.
“We would like to provide her with options so she can plan accordingly for the next several months,” Piper writes. “We hope by providing these alternatives, it will help Keira physically and mentally heal to know that her family is fed and the laundry is complete.”
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Today, Ontario is reporting 1,468 new cases, with the seven-day average of daily cases increasing by 68 to 1,337.
Today’s new cases include 19 more cases of the B.1.1.7 UK variant (for a total of 1,024) and 1 more case of the B.1.351 South Africa variant (for a total of 43).
In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 9 new cases to report and an additional 17 cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 8 to 118.
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Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (381), Peel (226), and York (168).
There are double-digit increases in Ottawa (82), Thunder Bay (66), Waterloo (51), Sudbury (46), Halton (46), Simcoe Muskoka (43), Windsor-Essex (40), Durham (38), Middlesex-London (36), Hamilton (36), Niagara (31), Southwestern (25), Brant (24), Lambton (22), Chatham-Kent (18), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (17), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (15), Northwestern (13), Peterborough (13), and Eastern Ontario (12), with a smaller increase in Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (6).
The remaining 10 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 4 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s new cases, 58% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (496) among people ages 20-39 followed by 415 cases among people ages 40-59.
With 1,151 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 94.0%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.5% from yesterday to 2.9%, meaning that 29 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on March 12.
Ontario is reporting 11 new COVID-19 deaths today, with 1 new death in a long-term care home. Ontario has averaged 12 new daily deaths over the past week (no change from yesterday).
Hospitalizations have increased by 13 from yesterday to 689, with the number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs decreasing by 7 to 275 and the number of patients with COVID-19 on ventilators decreasing by 14 to 175.
A total of 58,431 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation decreasing by 6,988 to 29,756.
A total of 1,116,496 doses of vaccine have now been administered, an increase of 53,586 from yesterday, with 284,686 people fully vaccinated with both doses of vaccine, an increase of 1,938 from yesterday, representing 1.93% of Ontario’s population.
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 9 new cases to report, including 3 in Peterborough, 3 in Hastings Prince Edward, 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton.
There are 7 new regional cases of presumed variants of concern, including 3 in Peterborough and 4 in Northumberland.
An outbreak was declared at Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden on March 12 based on a single case. There is 1 new hospitalization in Peterborough and 1 new hospitalization in Kawartha Lakes.
An additional 17 cases have been resolved, including 11 in Peterborough, 4 in Northumberland, and 2 in Hastings Prince Edward.
There are currently 118 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 8 from yesterday, including 71 in Peterborough, 17 in Northumberland, 14 in Hastings Prince Edward (3 in Quinte West, 5 in Belleville, 1 in Tyendinaga & Deseronto, 3 in Prince Edward County, 1 in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, and 1 in North Hastings), 14 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 762 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (682 resolved with 9 deaths), 557 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (501 resolved with 55 deaths), 465 in Northumberland County (436 resolved with 12 deaths), 53 in Haliburton County (50 resolved with 1 death), and 439 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (419 resolved with 6 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Northumberland on March 12.
The provincial data in this report is pulled from Ontario’s integrated Public Health Information System (iPHIS) at 12 p.m. the previous day. Data from local health units is more current and is usually reflected in the provincial data the following day. There may be discrepancies between the Ontario data reported today (which is from yesterday) and the local health unit data reported today (which is from today).
Peterborough Public Health’s service area is the City and County of Peterborough and the Hiawatha and Curve Lake First Nations.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 762 (increase of 3) Confirmed variants of concern cases: 1 (no change) Presumed variants of concern cases: 112 (increase of 3) Active cases: 71 (decrease of 8) Close contacts: 173 (decrease of 28) Deaths: 9 (no change) Resolved: 682 (increase of 11) Hospitalizations (total to date): 27 (increase of 1)* Total tests completed: Over 44,800 (increase of 150) Outbreaks: Severn Court Student Residence, Trent Champlain College residence, Regency retirement home in Lakefield (no change) Vaccine doses administered: 10,320 (increase of 4,393, last updated March 11)
*As of March 12, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 5 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and 19 patients transferred from other areas as a result of a provincial directive (increase of 2).
Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit
The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit’s service area is the City of Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland County, and Haliburton County.
The health unit provides reports from Monday to Saturday, excluding Sundays and statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 1,075, including 557 in Kawartha Lakes, 465 in Northumberland, and 53 in Haliburton (increase of 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes, 1 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)* Cases with N501Y mutation: 25, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes and 22 in Northumberland (increase of 4 in Northumberland)** Active cases: 33, including 14 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (net decrease of 1) Probable cases: 1 in Kawartha Lakes (no change) High-risk contacts: 234, including 154 in Kawartha Lakes, 41 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (net decrease of 30)*** Hospitalizations (total to date): 48, including 28 in Kawartha Lakes, 17 in Northumberland, and 3 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)**** Deaths (including among probable cases): 68, including 55 in Kawartha Lakes, 12 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change) Resolved: 987, including 501 in Kawartha Lakes, 436 in Northumberland, 50 in Haliburton (increase of 4 in Northumberland) Tests completed: 152,416 (increase of 579) Outbreaks: CrossFit Lindsay, Hyland Crest long-term care home in Haliburton (increase of 1)*****
*The health unit states that total counts and counts for individual counties may fluctuate from previously reported counts as cases are transferred to or from the health unit based on case investigation details and routine data cleaning.
**The N501Y mutation has been identified in variants of concern including the B.1.1.7 UK variant, the B.1.351 South Africa variant, and the P.1 Brazilian variant.
***This total includes an additional 36 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.
****As of March 12, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports no patients hospitalized with COVID-19 (no change).
*****An outbreak was declared at Hyland Crest long-term care home in Minden on March 12 based on a single case.
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
The health unit provides daily reports, including on weekends, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 439 (increase of 3) Confirmed variants of concern cases: 5 (no change) Active cases: 14 (increase of 1) Deaths: 6 (no change) Currently hospitalized: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change) Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change) Resolved: 419 (increase of 2) Tests completed: 71,402 (no change) Vaccine doses administered: 11,944 (increase of 444) Outbreaks: Unidentified workplace in Belleville (no change)
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 316,359 (increase of 1,468) COVID-19 variants of concern (VOC) confirmed cases: 1,024 of B.1.1.7 UK variant (increase of 19); 43 of B.1.351 South Africa variant (increase of 1); 34 of P.1 Brazilian variant (no change) VOC R(t): 1.29 (as of March 9)* 7-day average of daily new cases: 1,337 (increase of 68) Resolved: 297,403 (increase of 1,151), 94.0% of all cases Positivity rate: 2.9% (increase of 0.5%) Hospitalizations: 689 (increase of 13) Hospitalizations in ICU: 275 (decrease of 7) Hospitalizations in ICU on ventilator: 175 (decrease of 14) Deaths: 7,138 (increase of 11) 7-day average of daily new deaths: 12 (no change) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 3,878 (increase of 1) Total tests completed: 11,707,491 (increase of 58,431) Tests under investigation: 29,756 (decrease of 6,988) Vaccination doses administered: 1,116,496 (increase of 53,586) People fully vaccinated (two doses): 284,686 (increase of 1,938), 1.93% of Ontario’s population (est. 70-90% required for herd immunity)
*R(t) is a virus’s effective reproduction number, which is the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual at a specifc time (t) in a partially immunized population. To successfully eliminate a disease from a population, R(t) needs to be less than 1.
COVID-19 cases in Ontario from February 10 – March 12, 2021. The red line is the number of new cases reported daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of new cases. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 tests completed in Ontario from February 10 – March 12, 2021. The red line is the daily number of tests completed, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU admissions in Ontario from February 10 – March 12, 2021. The red line is the daily number of COVID-19 hospitalizations, the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of hospitalizations, the purple line is the daily number of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs, and the dotted orange line is a five-day moving average of is a five-day moving average of patients with COVID-19 in ICUs. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 deaths in Ontario from February 10 – March 12, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily deaths, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily deaths. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Ontario from February 10 – March 12, 2021. The red line is the cumulative number of daily doses administered, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of daily doses. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Selwyn Township's Ashton Kelly sings in "Life in a Pandemic (don't it stink)", a pandemic parody video set to the tune of Alanis Morissette's 1996 hit "Ironic". Ashton and her mom Deborah wrote the original lyrics, while Ashton's stepfather Mark Russell filmed and edited. This is the second pandemic parody video created by the family, who released one in April 2020 set to the tune of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". (Screenshot)
With March 11th the one-year anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring a global pandemic, a Selwyn Township family marked the occasion by releasing a parody song about the pandemic.
This is not the family’s first time tackling a COVID-19 parody song project. Last April, 23-year-old Ashton Kelly and her family released their first parody song and its accompanying video on YouTube — “Something to Do-ah (The Isolation Song)” to the tune of “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen — garnering almost 28,000 views.
Now a year later, their second parody song “Life in a Pandemic (don’t it stink)” is set to the tune of Canadian musical icon Alanis Morissette’s 1996 hit “Ironic” — with the parody video mirroring Morissette’s original music video.
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“Last year, we came up with the idea to do a fun parody song just to lighten spirits a bit,” explains Ashton, who sings in both the videos. “We got a really good response we weren’t expecting, so this year we decided as an anniversary celebration of the first song that we’d do a second one.”
This time around, Ashton and her mom Deborah wrote the lyrics, while Ashton’s stepfather Mark Russell filmed and edited. The entire project took about a week and a half — four days to write lyrics, three and a half days to film, and three days for post-production.
In addition to her passion for singing, Ashton is pursuing acting as her career and is currently a student in a post-secondary acting program that holds some in-person classes. The “Ironic” parody song was shot during Ashton’s reading week.
VIDEO: Life in a Pandemic (don’t it stink?) – Ironic Parody
“It’s hard with COVID … there are no live performances,” Ashton notes. “This is a good way to get my creative juices flowing again. It’s something fun for the whole family as well as keeping that aspect of my passion for singing and acting alive.”
“I was stressed and hard on myself the first time around,” she adds. “This time, I was more worried about it being fun. I wanted it to be something families could enjoy, and our family and friends could laugh at.”
In comparison with the initial video, this one is a fun look at how much and how little has changed over the last year regarding the pandemic. According to Ashton, creating the second video was a reality check for her and her family that it has been a whole year of the pandemic.
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“It was kind of crazy writing lyrics for a pandemic that’s still going on because it was very similar,” Ashton says. “We weren’t expecting last year that we would be in the same predicament a year later.”
In another sense, this second song exemplifies the difference in how many now deal with and talk about COVID-19. For example, there are lyrics about the COVID vaccine, which is being rolled out in Canada at a much slower pace than in many other countries (“Please give us the shot much quicker”).
Ashton says pop-culture references, including Canadian references, were essential for the song, especially since this was one of the most popular elements of last year’s parody video.
As with their first parody video, “Life in a Pandemic (don’t it stink)” includes various memes and pop-culture references. (Screenshot)
“We wanted to make sure that we did the same thing but made it new and based on what’s popular right now,” Ashton explains..
The contrast between references to the Netflix hit Tiger King in the first video and currently popular shows like Bridgerton and Schitt’s Creek in the second brings to light the ways popular culture has continued to shift throughout a pandemic as prevalent now as it was a year ago.
Another one of Ashton’s favourite lyrics pokes fun at the unique struggles that have accompanied a pandemic: “It’s DMing the man of my dreams, and then hearing his anti-mask shite.”
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While lyrics like these are comedic, they also hit on how the pandemic has reached and affected seemingly unrelated aspects of an individual’s life, such as dating.
Ashton says keeping the video distinctly Canadian was also important to her family — a partial motivator for their choice to cover “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette.
“It’s a recognizable song and is Canadian,” Ashton explains. “We knew that people of all generations were going to know and recognize the song, and it’s more upbeat in comparison to Hallelujah last year.”
With a few calculated variations, the parody music video is almost a shot-for-shot recreation of Morissette’s original music video. However, the video’s last shot where Ashton walks away from her car varies from Morissette since Ashton puts on a mask in her video.
Alanis Morissette in the music video for her 1996 hit “Ironic” and Ashton Kelly in the pandemic parody video “Life in a Pandemic (don’t it stink)”. With a few calculated variations, the parody music video is almost a shot-for-shot recreation of Morissette’s original music video. (Screenshots)
The video’s repetition of the original with subtle variations that distinctly reference COVID is a fun way to show how COVID has changed daily life.
Regarding the family’s expectations in creating this video, Ashton says they have no expectations of it going viral. Instead, they want it to be something fun to lift people’s spirits around a topic and time that can be negative and exhausting.
“We wanted to make sure this wasn’t diminishing anyone’s struggles with due to COVID,” Ashton says. “We just want to entertain people. We love entertaining, and that is the career I have chosen for myself. It’s also fun to do with family — it was a bonding experience.”
Since being posted on YouTube on Thursday (March 11), the video has over 1,700 views and more than 40 likes as of the date of this story.
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