In From The Cold has raised $12,957.47 for YES Shelter for Youth and Families in Peterborough, despite the pandemic precluding an in-person concert over the holiday season.

According to In From The Cold co-founder and director John Hoffman, this is the largest annual amount raised in the concert’s 21-year history.

“Back in September, I could never have imagined that we’d be able to hold any sort of In From the Cold event, let alone raise almost $13,000,” Hoffman says. “But thanks to the power of Trent Radio, and the generous donations of our sponsors and the individuals who donated through our Canada Helps fundraiser, we continued to be able to support the YES Shelter for Youth and Families.”

Since 2000, In From The Cold has been a live concert at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in downtown Peterborough over two nights every December, with each concert recorded for a Christmas Day broadcast on Trent Radio. Thanks to the support of sponsors and with musicians generously donating their time, all ticket proceeds have gone to YES Shelter for Youth and Families. Over 20 years, the fundraising concert has raised over $130,000 for YES.

Because of the pandemic, a live concert couldn’t be held this year. So the founders of In From The Cold — Hoffman along with musicians Susan Newman, Rob Fortin, and Curtis Driedger — reviewed 20 years’ worth of recordings to create a “best of” selection that was broadcast on Trent Radio and streamed on its website on December 11th and 12th. The radio concert was free, but people were encouraged to donate in lieu of purchasing tickets.

Hoffman says he is grateful to Trent Radio — in particular, programming director Jill Staveley — as well as to the concert’s 12 sponsoring businesses and organizations and to all the people who donated.

“As I’m sure you can imagine, YES has had a very challenging year, so they need community support more than ever,” Hoffman says. “On behalf of all of the In From the Cold community, including the YES Shelter for Youth and Families, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

A registered charity, YES Shelter for Youth and Families in Peterborough serves youth aged 16 to 24 and their families, providing emergency shelter, transitional housing, an alternative high school classroom, a food cupboard, and transitional programs. To support YES, visit yesshelter.ca.

Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.

With Ontario reporting 4,249 new cases on Friday morning, Premier Doug Ford held a media conference to warn Ontarians the province is in a “desperate situation”, referring to COVID-19 modelling projections he has seen that will be released to the public on Tuesday (January 12).

“When you see the modelling, you’ll fall off your chair,” Ford said. “Everything is on the table right now. There will be further measures because this is getting out of control, and we have to do whatever it takes.”

“This is so, so serious,” he added, urging Ontarians to stay home and adhere to public health measures. “As a matter of fact, this is the most serious situation we’ve ever been in — ever — since the beginning of this pandemic.”

Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario’s associate chief medical officer of health, echoed Ford’s warning.

“Today’s numbers are, to be frank, they’re scary,” Dr. Jaffe said. “It’s going the wrong way. We have more and more people hospitalized, more and more people in ICU, more and more people on ventilators. The hospitals are starting to have to cut back on elective surgeries and other very important procedures that require ICU care. They’re starting to have to move patients between hospitals.”

Dr. Jaffe said there are an increasing number of outbreaks in congregate care, particularly in long-term care, as well as increased positivity rates even in children. She added that, with the more contagious UK variant of COVID-19 now in Ontario, the province is in a “very serious situation.”

“We need to consider all possible measures to contain this infection,” she said. “We don’t want more people dying. We don’t want the ICUs overwhelmed. We don’t want morgues overwhelmed. We don’t want to scare people, but on the other hand I think there’s too much complacency.”

Today’s record increase of 4,249 new cases includes 450 cases from Toronto, mainly from January 5 and 6, that were not previously counted due to a data upload delay. However, even excluding these cases, the total case count for today is still a record-breaking 3,799, with the seven-day average of daily cases across the province increasing by 253 to 3,394.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 27 new cases to report and 29 additional cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 1 to 188. Another new COVID-related death is being reported in Kawartha Lakes.

Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (1,382, which includes the 450 previously unreported cases). Peel (691), York (427), Niagara (213), Windsor-Essex (184), Hamilton (175), Durham (170), Ottawa (154), Waterloo (147), and Halton (134).

There are double-digit increases in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (85), Simcoe Muskoka (75), Lambton (56), Middlesex-London (53), Eastern Ontario (45), Brant (41), Southwestern (40), Huron Perth (31), Grey Bruce (20), Haldimand-Norfolk (20), Sudbury (13), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (13), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (12), Renfrew (12), and Chatham-Kent (10), with smaller increases in Thunder Bay (8), Peterborough (8), Northwestern (7), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (7), and Porcupine (6).

The remaining 4 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with all reporting at least 1 case.

Of today’s new cases, 51% are among people 39 and younger, with the highest number of cases (1,618) among people ages 20-39, followed by 1,217 cases among people ages 40-59. With 2,738 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.5% to 84.1%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has increased since yesterday by 0.1% to 6.2%, meaning that 62 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on January 6.

Ontario is reporting 26 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 15 deaths in long-term care facilities. Hospitalizations have decreased by 26 to 1,472. With 6 more patients with COVID-19 in ICUs reported today, there are now 368 COVID-19 ICU patients in Ontario. With 5 more COVID-19 patients on ventilators reported today, there are now 250 COVID-19 patients on ventilators.

A total of 73,067 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 7,285 to 73,067. A total of 87,563 doses of vaccine have been administered, with 14,932 daily doses administered and 4,053 total vaccinations completed (i.e., both doses).

Due to the winter break and the remote learning period during the provincial shutdown, there will be no data to report for schools in southern Ontario until January 26. There are 28 new cases in licensed child care settings, a decrease of 15 from yesterday, with 14 cases among children and 14 cases among staff.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 27 new cases to report, including 9 in Peterborough, 6 in Hastings Prince Edward, 6 in Northumberland, 4 in Kawartha Lakes, and 2 in Haliburton. None of the new cases reported today in licensed child care settings are in the greater Kawarthas region.

There is 1 new COVID-related death to report in Kawartha Lakes — the third death in three days. While none of the three deaths are related, the health unit reports those who have died were all high-risk contacts of confirmed cases.

An additional 29 cases have been resolved, including 12 in Peterborough, 6 in Hastings Prince Edward, 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton.

There are currently 188 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 1 from yesterday, including 82 in Peterborough, 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 33 in Northumberland, 27 in Hastings Prince Edward (6 in Quinte West, 13 in Belleville, 3 in Prince Edward County, and 5 in Central Hastings), and 4 in Haliburton.

Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 423 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (336 resolved with 5 deaths), 303 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (239 resolved with 35 deaths), 288 in Northumberland County (252 resolved with 3 deaths), 36 in Haliburton County (32 resolved with no deaths), and 325 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (293 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Kawartha Lakes on January 8.

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

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: 423 (increase of 9)
Active cases: 82 (decrease of 3)
Close contacts: 165 (increase of 10)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Resolved: 336 (increase of 12)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 16 (no change)*
Total tests completed: Over 39,800 (increase of 150)
Outbreaks: Community Living Trent Highlands group home in Peterborough, Unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough, Workplace in Otonabee-South Monaghan (no change)

*As of January 8, Peterborough Regional Health Centre is reporting fewer than 10 patients hospitalized with COVID-19. An exact number is not provided.

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 statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 627, including 303 in Kawartha Lakes, 288 in Northumberland, and 36 in Haliburton (increase of 12, including 4 in Kawartha Lakes, 6 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton)*
Active cases: 80, including 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 33 in Northumberland, and 4 in Haliburton (net increase of 2)
Probable cases: 2, including 2 in Kawartha Lakes (net decrease of 1)
High-risk contacts: 138, including 49 in Kawartha Lakes, 61 in Northumberland, and 7 in Haliburton (net increase of 8)**
Hospitalizations (total to date): 26, including 17 in Kawartha Lakes, 8 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change)***
Deaths (including among probable cases): 38, including 35 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland (increase of 1, in Kawartha Lakes)
Resolved: 523, including 239 in Kawartha Lakes, 252 in Northumberland, 32 in Haliburton (increase of 11, including 5 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton)
Institutional outbreaks: Christian Horizons group home in Northumberland, Hope St. Terrace long-term care home in Port Hope (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.

**This total includes 16 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.

***As of January 8, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 4 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19.

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, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 325 (increase of 6)
Active cases: 27 (no change)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 2 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change)
Resolved: 293 (increase of 6)
Swabs completed: 30,188 (increase of 1)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)

Province of Ontario

Confirmed positive: 208,394 (increase of 4,249)*
Resolved: 175,309 (increase of 2,738, 84.1% of all cases)
Positivity rate: 6.2% (increase of 0.1%)
Hospitalized: 1,446 (decrease of 26)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 369 (increase of 6)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 250 (increase of 8)
Deaths: 4,882 (increase of 26)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 2,943 (increase of 15)
Total tests completed: 8,366,403 (increase of 71,481)
Tests under investigation: 73,067 (increase of 7,285)
Vaccinations: 14,932 daily doses administered, 87,563 total doses administered, 4,053 total vaccinations completed (2 doses)

*This total includes around 450 cases in Toronto, mainly from January 5 and 6, that were not previously counted due to a data upload delay. Excluding these cases, the total case count for today is 3,799.

For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.

In an twist of irony, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/SEEPO) has bought the historic Leslie M. Frost Natural Resource Centre in Haliburton County for $3.2 million.

The Ontario government — which had used the centre in the past to train government staff, including many OPSEU members, before closing it in 2004 — put the property up for sale in October with an asking price of $1.1 million.

“The property is an absolute gem,” states OPSEU president Smokey Thomas in an announcement on Friday (January 8) from the union, which represents 170,000 public sector workers.

“From training forest rangers in the 1920s to training our members and leaders in the 2020s, this property will serve OPSEU/SEEPO’s hardworking members so that they can continue to support our province, its people, and its economy.”

OPSEU states the $3.2 million purchase price was approved earlier this week by the OPSEU’s executive board. It is unknown whether there were competing offers on the property that resulted in the purchase price being $2.1 million over asking.

According to OPSEU first vice-president and treasurer Eddy Almeida, preserving the integrity of the site is of “utmost importance” to the union.

“We’ve got a huge opportunity but also a real duty here,” he says. “A duty to preserve the property’s integrity, respect the environment, and be good to neighbours working closely with the rural community in Haliburton County.”

“We look forward to joining with our community partners to reinvigorate the Frost Centre,” Almeida adds. “We know the centre’s impressive history and its true value, and we’re committed to breathing new life and purpose into this property, to serve our members and the broader community at large.”

The 40.63-acre property, which was sold “as is”, has 1,480 feet frontage along Highway 35 and 2,800 feet of shore line on St. Nora Lake. It includes 21 buildings that can accommodate more than 200 people in a mix of dorm-style rooms and cottages, a full kitchen, dining, hall, and recreation centre.

The buildings are in poor condition as they haven’t been maintained for the past 10 years. There are multiple easements on the property, including for access to a public dock and boat launch.

Commonly called the Frost Centre, it first opened in 1921 as a training facility for provincial forest rangers. In 1944, the Ontario government and the University of Toronto Faculty of Forestry entered into a partnership to create the Ontario Forest Technical Training School on the site.

In 1974, then-Premier Bill Davis announced the site would be developed as an environmental and resource management education centre and would be called The Leslie M. Frost Natural Resources Centre, after the province’s 16th premier. It was used as a training centre for government staff, as well as by school groups, wildlife organizations, eco-tourism groups, and more.

In 2004, the Liberal government of the time announced it was closing the centre to save around $1.2 million in annual operating costs, including laying off OPSEU members who were working at the centre, prompting public outrage. More than 26,000 people had visited the centre in its last year of operation.

The centre closed on July 13, 2004. In response to the controversy around closing the centre, the government announced it would lease the property for “environmental and outdoor education activities” rather than sell it.

Led by area cottager and former IBM executive Al Aubry, the not-for-profit Frost Centre Institute was established on the property in 2007, where it offered an educational summer camp, a conference centre, and environmental programming.

The Frost Centre Institute closed in 2010, after operating a deficit for three years, largely due to high expenses during the winter months when the centre was hardly used.

The Ontario government then put the property up for sale, but was unsuccessful in selling it. The government has been paying for basic maintenance of the property ever since.

Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.

As Ontario reports a new record high of 3,519 cases and 89 deaths, the provincial government has announced online learning for all elementary students in southern Ontario will be extended until Monday, January 25th — the same date when secondary school students are scheduled to return to class.

Elementary sudents were originally scheduled to return to schools for in-person learning on Monday, January 11th.

At a media conference earlier today, Premier Doug Ford said the positivity rate among children has spiked since schools closed before the holidays. In late November and early December, the positivity rate for kids aged 12 to 13 years old was 5.4 per cent; in early January, it has climbed to nearly 20 per cent.

“One in every five children under the age of 13, they’re testing positive,” Ford said. “That’s not mentioning all the other kids that haven’t been tested, that might have a runny nose or cough. I will never, ever put our kids in jeopardy.”

The government attributes the increase in cases to children being infected while at home over the holidays, when some families ignored public health advice and got together with others not in their households. Targeted testing done among students and staff in December has confirmed that schools are not a significant source of transmission. To support families during this extended school closure, child care centres, and home-based child care services will remain open.

With cases rising in northern communities, the government is also extending the shutdown in northern Ontario for another 14 days, until at least January 23, aligning with the shutdown period in southern Ontario. However, elementary students in northern Ontario will return to in-person learning on Monday, January 11th.

With today’s record-high increase in new cases, the seven-day average of daily cases across the province has increased by 76 to 3,141. Of Ontario’s 34 public health units, 10 are reporting new cases in the triple digits.

The province is also reporting 89 deaths — the highest single-day number of COVID-related deaths since the pandemic began — including 43 deaths in long-term care homes and the second death in Kawartha Lakes in just two days.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 31 new cases to report and 29 additional cases resolved, with the number of active cases across the region decreasing by 8 from yesterday to 189.

Most of today’s new cases are in Toronto (891), Peel (568), York (457), Windsor-Essex (208), Waterloo (175), Durham (174), Ottawa (164), Hamilton (146), Middlesex-London (115), and Niagara (112).

There are double-digit increases in Halton (95), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (90), Simcoe Muskoka (78), Eastern Ontario (36), Brant (27), Southwestern (22), Chatham-Kent (19), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (17), Grey Bruce (16), Northwestern (15), Algoma (12), Peterborough (12), Huron Perth (12), Haldimand-Norfolk (11), North Bay Parry Sound (10), and Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (10), with smaller increases in Sudbury (9) and Thunder Bay (7).

The remaining 6 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 1 health unit (Renfrew) reporting no new cases at all.

Of today’s new cases, 50.4% are among people older than 40, with the highest number of cases (1,289) among people ages 20-39, followed by 1,051 cases among people ages 40-59, 514 cases among people ages 60-79, and 448 cases among people ages 19 and under. With 2,776 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 84.6%. The average positivity rate across Ontario has decreased since yesterday by 2.4% to 6.1%, meaning that 61 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on January 6.

Ontario is reporting a record-high 89 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 43 deaths in long-term care facilities. Hospitalizations have increased by 9 to 1,472. With 2 more patients with COVID-19 in ICUs reported today, there are now 363 COVID-19 ICU patients in Ontario. With 4 fewer COVID-19 patients on ventilators reported today, there are now 242 COVID-19 patients on ventilators.

A total of 65,772 tests were completed yesterday, with the backlog of tests under investigation increasing by 10,288 to 65,772. A total of 72,631 doses of vaccine have been administered, with 12,251 daily doses administered and 2,173 total vaccinations completed (i.e., both doses).

Due to the winter break and the remote learning period during the provincial shutdown, there will be no data to report for Ontario schools until January 25. There are 43 new cases in licensed child care settings, a decrease of 14 from yesterday, with 16 cases among children and 27 cases among staff.

In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 31 new cases to report, including 13 in Kawartha Lakes, 8 in Peterborough, 7 in Northumberland, and 3 in Hastings Prince Edward. There are no new cases in Haliburton. None of the new cases reported today in licensed child care settings are in the greater Kawarthas region.

There has been 1 new COVID-related death in Kawartha Lakes — the second in two days — with 1 new hospitalization in Kawartha Lakes. There is also 1 new hospitalization in Peterborough.

An additional 29 cases have been resolved, including 9 in Hastings Prince Edward, 8 in Peterborough, 8 in Northumberland, 3 in Kawartha Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton.

There are currently 189 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, a decrease of 8 from yesterday, including 85 in Peterborough, 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 30 in Northumberland, 27 in Hastings Prince Edward (8 in Quinte West, 14 in Belleville, 3 in Prince Edward County, and 2 in Central Hastings), and 5 in Haliburton.

Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 414 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (324 resolved with 5 deaths), 297 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (234 resolved with 34 deaths), 281 in Northumberland County (248 resolved with 3 deaths), 35 in Haliburton County (30 resolved with no deaths), and 319 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (287 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Kawartha Lakes on January 7.

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

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: 414 (increase of 8)
Active cases: 85 (decrease of 7)
Close contacts: 175 (increase of 8)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Resolved: 324 (increase of 15)
Hospitalizations (total to date): 17 (increase of 1)*
Total tests completed: Over 39,650 (increase of 50)
Outbreaks: Community Living Trent Highlands group home in Peterborough, Unidentified congregate living facility in Peterborough, Workplace in Otonabee-South Monaghan (no change)

*The health unit is reporting no additional hospitalizations. However, as of January 7, Peterborough Regional Health Centre reports a total of 4 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 on an inpatient unit. This is an increase of 1 from yesterday.

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 statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 613, including 297 in Kawartha Lakes, 281 in Northumberland, and 35 in Haliburton (increase of 20, including 13 in Kawartha Lakes and 7 in Northumberland)*
Active cases: 78, including 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 30 in Northumberland, and 5 in Haliburton (net increase of 6)
Probable cases: 3, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 2 in Northumberland (no change)
High-risk contacts: 130, including 42 in Kawartha Lakes, 65 in Northumberland, and 7 in Haliburton (net decrease of 18)**
Hospitalizations (total to date): 26, including 17 in Kawartha Lakes, 8 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (increase of 1 in Kawartha Lakes)***
Deaths: 37, including 34 in Kawartha Lakes and 3 in Northumberland (increase of 1, in Kawartha Lakes)
Resolved: 512, including 234 in Kawartha Lakes, 248 in Northumberland, 30 in Haliburton (increase of 23, including 3 in Kawartha Lakes, 8 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton)
Institutional outbreaks: Christian Horizons group home in Northumberland, Hope St. Terrace long-term care home in Port Hope (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.

**This total includes 16 high-risk contacts directly followed up through the Public Health Ontario contact tracing process that are missing the contacts’ county.

***As of January 7, Ross Memorial Hospital in Lindsay reports 4 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19.

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, excluding statutory holidays.

Confirmed positive: 319 (increase of 3)
Active cases: 27 (decrease of 6)
Deaths: 5 (no change)
Currently hospitalized: 2 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU: 0 (no change)
Currently hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator (total to date): 0 (no change)
Resolved: 287 (increase of 9)
Swabs completed: 30,187 (increase of 2)
Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)

Province of Ontario

Confirmed positive: 204,145 (increase of 3,519)
Resolved: 172,571 (increase of 2,776, 84.5% of all cases)
Positivity rate: 6.1% (decrease of 2.4%)
Hospitalized: 1,472 (increase of 9)
Hospitalized and in ICU: 363 (increase of 2)
Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 242 (decrease of 4)
Deaths: 4,856 (increase of 89)
Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 2,928 (increase of 43)
Total tests completed: 8,294,922 (increase of 65,772)
Tests under investigation: 65,772 (increase of 10,288)
Vaccinations: 12,251 daily doses administered, 72,631 total doses administered, 2,173 total vaccinations completed (2 doses)

For more information about COVID-19 in Ontario, visit covid-19.ontario.ca.

A 45-year-old woman is dead following a house fire in the town of Colborne on Wednesday (January 6).

At around 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, Northumberland OPP were notified of a fire at a home on Norton Lane.

Shortly after police arrived at the scene, Cramahe Township Fire Department also arrived and removed a female occupant from the blaze.

Northumberland paramedics transported her to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced deceased.

The OPP have since identified the victim as Tanya Skeew Hawk, 45, of Cramahe Township in Northumberland County.

OPP secured the location while the Office of the Fire Marshal conducted an investigation.

The fire has been deemed non suspicious in nature.

A 23-year-old Peterborough woman is facing an assault charge after a verbal dispute with a neighbour escalated on Wednesday (January 6).

At around 10 p.m. on Wednesday night, officers were called to an apartment building on Parkhill Road West after a woman called saying she had been assaulted after asking her neighbours to be quiet.

As a result of an investigation, 23-year-old Laura Thackeray was arrested and charged with assault.

Thackeray was released on an undertaking and is scheduled to appear in court on January 21st.

The female victim received minor injuries during the assault but did not require medical attention.

The good news-bad news rollercoaster that has marked the COVID-19 pandemic since day one is continuing true to form.

During her weekly media briefing held Wednesday (January 6), Peterborough’s medical officer of health Dr. Rosanna Salvaterra noted that, while she is expecting the first doses of vaccine to arrive locally before the end of January, infection numbers “have soared” as the full effects of the holiday season become apparent.

“We saw the beginning of our surge on Christmas Day with a tripling of our usual number of daily cases and this has been sustained with a record number of 20 new cases being reported one day this past weekend,” said Dr. Salvaterra.

The numbers lend proof to her assessment. As of Wednesday afternoon, there are currently 89 active cases of the virus in Peterborough Public Health’s catchment area of Peterborough city and county, Curve Lake and Hiawatha — a disturbing jump since December 23rd when there were 27 active cases locally.

“This represents a tripling of our (positive) cases over the past two weeks,” noted Dr. Salvaterra.

In total, there have been 399 local positive cases since the pandemic took hold in mid March 2020. That’s an increase of 119 cases over the past two weeks alone. In addition, public health is monitoring the status of 177 close contacts of positive cases — up from 107, again over the past two weeks.

“For the week starting December 28th, we reported 71 new cases,” reported Dr. Salvaterra. “For the week starting January 4th, so far we were at 13 new cases as of yesterday (Tuesday) evening. I can assure you this has increased again. In December, there were 137 new cases. So far, in January, we are already at 52 cases.”

“The trend is definitely worrisome. Fortunately, despite the significant rise in cases, there has been no change in the number of deaths in our community…these remain at five.”

Despite these sobering numbers, Dr. Salvaterra says it’s not all doom and gloom. An outbreak at Riverview Manor long-term care home on Water Street has been declared over, meaning there are no current outbreaks at senior care or retirement homes.

That said, three other outbreaks remain in effect, including a major outbreak that at its height saw 14 people — five residents and nine staff — test positive at a Peterborough community home overseen by Community Living Trent Highlands.

According to the Community Living Trent Highlands executive director Teresa Jordan, the outbreak was declared December 23rd. Five of the nine staff cases are now resolved while two of the five resident cases are likewise resolved. At this point, how COVID-19 was first introduced to that environment hasn’t been determined.

The other two outbreaks involve another congregate living facility, the identity of which hasn’t been disclosed as of yet by public health, and a workplace outbreak in Otonabee-South Monaghan that resulted in a “voluntary closure.” The number of cases associated with the congregate living facility were not released; the workplace outbreak has a total of eight cases, including four within the purview of Peterborough Public Health.

the answer is there are 8 total cases, with only 4 being local to our health unit area.

On the daily evolving vaccine front, Dr. Salvaterra said she’s “expecting” the first doses of vaccine to arrive locally before the end of January and the initial recipients will be residents of long-term care residences.

“We have areas in Ontario where the (COVID-19) risk is greater,” acknowledged Dr. Salvaterra.

“We have no outbreaks in long-term care at present. However, we have an increased incidence of COVID-19 and it’s growing every week. That will put the long-term care homes and their residents at greater risk.”

“We are preparing. We are meeting tomorrow (Thursday) with all of our home providers, long-term care and retirement homes and congregate living settings. There’s a checklist that will help them prepare for immunization. We have consent forms we will be sharing with them so as soon as we get delivery of vaccines we will be immunizing.”

That said, Dr. Salvaterra stressed once more that responsible individual behaviour is the best defence against continued community spread of the virus.

“Do I really need to go out? Can I do it virtually instead?” said Dr. Salvaterra, of what residents should be asking themselves.

“If you see a crowd, it’s up to you to turn around and stay away. Yes, we have enforcement in place but really it falls on the individual. If you have a symptom, get tested. If you are tested, don’t go shopping. Don’t go to work. Stay home until you get your result.”

Dr. Salvaterra added that while outdoor activity is encouraged, “Unless we can prevent crowding at outdoor rinks and on toboggan hills, we will see transmission of COVID occurring at those sites.”

She said the City of Peterborough will soon be posting capacity limit notices at rinks and toboggan hills. To that end, she noted there will be increased enforcement at outdoor winter activity locations.

“If I don’t see better adherence, I will have no other option but to order that these areas be closed,” she warned.

As for the suggestion from Premier Ford that the introduction of a curfew across Ontario isn’t off the table, Dr. Salvaterra said “There’s more that the province could be and should be doing,” adding she would “welcome” further measures as needed.

Also sitting in on Wednesday’s briefing were Peterborough Board of Health chair and Selwyn mayor Andy Mitchell, Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien, Peterborough-Kawartha MP Maryam Monsef, and Peterborough County Warden J. Murray Jones — who made his frustration clear.

“We really need to get through to people that seem to want to protest this whole thing and go into denial,” said Warden Jones. “I’m hearing from them everyday, and I’m sure Diane (Mayor Therrien) is too, about how all this is phony and how their rights are being taken away.”

“We’ve really got to stop this nonsense and get together on this. Let’s be part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

Looking ahead, on Friday, January 15th at 2 p.m., Dr. Salvaterra will host a virtual community forum during which she will take questions from registered residents. To register, visit eventbrite.ca/e/135399941871. Dr. Salvaterra invites questions from the community in advance so she can try to address them during her presentation. A field to submit questions is included as part of the online registration process.