Two of the four members of the new Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TACMEDS) unit, who have been specially trained to provide on-the-spot care to police, victims, or others affected by a high-risk event. The unit will not be armed, but will be equipped with all the same protective equipment that tactical law enforcement officers have. (Photo courtesy of Peterborough Police Service)
The Peterborough Police Service and the Peterborough County/City Paramedics have created a new unit that will enable paramedics to better care for those involved in high-risk emergency situations.
Called the Tactical Emergency Medical Support (TACMED) unit, the specially trained four-member paramedic team will be able to provide on-the-spot care to police, victims, or others affected by a high-risk event.
The unit will not be armed, but will be equipped with all the same protective equipment that tactical law enforcement officers have. To avoid confusion with police, all TACMED unit members will be clearly identified with a “Paramedic” marker on their protective equipment.
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“This program builds on the tremendous relationship between the Peterborough County/City Paramedics and the Peterborough Police Service,” says police chief Scott Gilbert. “In these dangerous situations, every moment makes a difference.”
“Having a specially trained and equipped team of medics standing alongside police officers will help ensure fast and appropriate medical care for first responders and everyone else at the scene.”
Members of the new TACMED unit have been selected from within the Peterborough County/City Paramedics based on a variety of factors, including written, practical, physical, and psychological testing.
“Peterborough County/City Paramedics is committed to ensuring the best possible outcome in emergency situations,” says Chris Barry, deputy chief of Peterborough County/City Paramedics. “The TACMED unit is an excellent way to provide our paramedics with the training they need to work together with law enforcement and provide immediate care in high-risk emergencies.”
Jon Lockyer with his dog Pepper. After six years as director and curator of Artspace in Peterborough, Lockyer is leaving to pursue other interests. (Photo courtesy of Artspace Peterborough)
John Lockyer, director and curator of Artspace, is leaving after six years with the non-profit artist-run centre in downtown Peterborough.
The organization’s board of directors made the announcement on Tuesday (December 8).
“On behalf of the board of directors, I extend heartfelt thanks to Jon Lockyer for six years of service and dedication, and offer congratulations as he embarks upon a new professional adventure,” says Artspace board chair Cyd Hosker.
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“His welcoming manner, along with his expertise, knowledge, awareness, and genuine love for the arts have enabled Artspace to continue to flourish as one of the region’s vital arts organizations,” Hosker adds.
Lockyer joined the centre in September 2014 at the age of 29, replacing Fynn Leitch who was hired as curator at the Art Gallery of Peterborough. Since then, Lockyer has become a fixture in the Peterborough’s arts and cultural landscape.
Originally from Toronto, Lockyer earned his bachelor of arts in Canadian studies from Trent University in 2008. He began a masters degree at Trent University but returned to Toronto in 2010, finishing a master’s degree at the Ontario College of Art and Design in fine art criticism and curatorial practice before returning to Peterborough.
“I’ve been very grateful for the opportunity to contribute to Artspace’s ongoing history, and have cherished the relationships I have formed with the countless individuals I’ve met and worked with over the last six years,” Lockyer says. “It has always been my aim to improve the centre’s standing in our community, while putting the needs of artists and their practices at the forefront of the work we’ve done here.”
“While I may be departing from the centre, I will always hold a deep love and appreciation for the centre, and all that I’ve learned during my time there.”
Artspace will begin the process of hiring process a new director and curator in conjunction with Lockyer’s departure, with a public job posting expected in early January 2021.
This photo by Kirk Hillsley of a late fall sunset on a Millbrook pond with evergreens dusted by snow was our top post on Instagram in November 2020, with almost 40,000 impressions and more than 1,300 likes. (Photo: Kirk Hillsley @kirkhillsley / Instagram)
It’s no surprise that the month of November in a pandemic year would be full of surprises.
For three weekends in a row, November delivered warm weather — as warm as summer on some days. But we had our share of snow too.
The seasonal mix of our top photos tell the story: it was a month where the images could have been picked from any other time from high summer to deep winter.
Do you want to get on our top photographers list? All you need is an Insta account and to tag us using our hashtag #kawarthanow when posting your photo.
We share photos from across our readership area, which is the five-county area surrounding Peterborough which includes Peterborough, Northumberland, City of Kawartha Lakes, Haliburton, and Hastings (we sneak in the occasional Algonquin Park picture as well, particularly if it’s by a Kawartha photographer).
To see our daily shares of photos, follow us on Instagram @kawarthanow and check out our feed’s highlight reels for recaps of every month in 2020.
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#1. Sunset on Millbrook pond by Kirk Hillsley @kirkhillsley
Posted November 28, 2020. 37.9K impressions, 1,336 likes
The Peterborough Symphony Orchestra's Brass Quintet will perform "Comfort and Joy", an online holiday concert from the stage at Showplace Performance Centre in downtown Peterborough on December 19, 2020. The PSO Brass Quintet will feature Michael Newnham on trombone, Paul Otway on trumpet, Doug Sutherland on trumpet, Jane Mackay on horn, and Al Carter on tuba.
If you’ve been missing the Peterborough Symphony Orchestra (PSO), you’ll be thrilled to learn the PSO’s Brass Quintet will be returning to the stage at Showplace Performance Centre to perform “Confort and Joy”, an online concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 19th.
Adding a unique twist to this holiday performance is the fact that Maestro Michael Newnham, PSO’s music director, will be stepping away from the conductor’s podium to perform on trombone. He will become the Brass Quintet’s fifth member, joining Paul Otway and Doug Sutherland on trumpet, Jane Mackay on horn, and Al Carter on tuba.
There’s nothing quite like the sound of the brass section. At once soft, romantic and warm, it is also capable of a vivid, metallic brilliance that can pervade the entire orchestra unlike any other instrument grouping.
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“Brass instruments really lend themselves well to this time of year,” Newnham explains. “You can play Christmas carols and Baroque music sounds fantastic. Bach and Handel sound just amazing on brass instruments. The other thing is that we have lots of arrangements that are jazzy or upbeat, which that kind of group lends itself well to.”
This is the first concert by PSO musicians since “Winter Passion”, the orchestra’s final pre-pandemic show at Showplace in February, and prompted Newnham to return to instrumental performance.
“The PSO has done nothing since the beginning of the lockdown back in March,” Newnham says. “So this is really one of our first forays into doing any kind of performance, even as a small group, and I really wanted to take part.”
VIDEO: Comfort and Joy – Christmas with the PSO Brass
Newnham studied trombone with the Canadian Youth Orchestra, the Canadian Brass, and at the University of Toronto and the Indiana University of Music before taking up the conducting baton. As a conductor he has excelled, receiving numerous prestigious awards including the Order of Merit from the Republic of Poland and the Best Conductor Award from the East Slovakian State Opera.
“It’s a little bit of a return to my roots,” says Newnham of his upcoming performance on trombone. “I love it — it’s part of my own musical identity. It brings back all kinds of memories for me personally.”
“I grew up in Hamilton, which is where the Canadian Brass began. I had private lessons with the trombone player [and founder of Canadian Brass] Gene Watts. Later, as a student, I went out to the Banff Centre as part of the Brass Quintet program one summer and that was fantastic too. There are a lot of memories packed into that whole experience of playing in a brass quintet and I love them all.”
Well before he became PSO music director, Michael Newnham had private lessons on trombone with Gene Watts (right), founder of Canadian Brass, pictured here with Canadian Brass member Jeff Nelsen on French horn performing “Swing that Music” by Louis Armstrong at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater in Bloomington, Indiana in 2010. (Photo: Allison Tyra)
The PSO Brass Quintet will perform a variety of arrangements spanning multiple time periods and genres for the online holiday concert.
“We’d like to begin by going way back because brass music was really an important part of music back around the 1500s and 1600s,” Newnham explains. “These instruments were used publicly or in church settings, so there’s lots of music that was originally written for brass from way back then.”
“From there, there’s so many wonderful arrangements that have been done that take Christmas carols and turn them around a little bit, to bring out the pop side or jazzy side of them.”
“Our first trumpet player for the PSO, Paul Otway, is an arranger in his own right. He’s written some funny arrangements — one of them is this jazz arrangement of Frosty the Snowman. It’s quite hilarious.”
“The idea is that there’s a mixture of serious music-making — we’ll be playing some Bach, some Handel, some older music — and also just having fun.”
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After nine months of living in a global pandemic, we could all use a little more fun in our lives.
“We know that people want to see some live music-making,” says Newnham of the decision to go online. “Although they can’t join us in person, we wanted this to be something that was going to be a fun thing for people to watch and to make them feel good, especially after all these months of being in this pandemic.”
“Music can do all kinds of things and one of them is just to feel like you’re part of a community. This is our first step to coming back — to start to do some music-making again.”
Newnham and the PSO’s board of directors have been hard at work since the pandemic began, ensuring that Peterborough would not lose that sense of community that music brings.
Through their initiative, PSO @ Home, plenty of online content is available on the PSO website at thepso.org — everything from learning resources to intimate at-home performances and interviews with PSO musicians, and even digital versions of the popular “Meet the Maestro” pre-concert talks.
“We’ve tried to create a lot of content and put it out regularly so that our supporters can watch it and be with us — and to let them know that we’re still with them,” Newnham says.
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This holiday season, we can still be with the PSO Brass Quintet, albeit virtually, and we can still come together to rejoice in the magic of music-making.
And, thanks to the online format, for the first time ever audiences will be able to see the PSO’s music-making up close, when they want, as many times as they want, and from anywhere in the world. Until we are able to again attend a live concert performance, we’re very fortunate the PSO Brass Quintet has found a way to bring us “Comfort and Joy”.
“We work with what we have and, since this is what there is, we make the most of it,” Newnham says. “If this quintet concert goes well and if there’s a good audience response, we want to be able to continue to offer some concerts in the springtime. We’ll announce those in the New Year — we have some very exciting things planned.”
The PSO understands that this has been a challenging year economically, which is why they’ve made their tickets available through flex pricing. Tickets, which give entire households access to the concert as many times as they want between December 19th and January 2nd, start at $15. That said, if you have the means, the PSO would like to invite you to chose another price point ($25, $40, $65, $100) to help ensure there will still be music-making when we are through this pandemic.
You can purchase tickets online at tickets.showplace.org or by calling the Showplace box office between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Wednesdays at 705-742-7469 or 705-760-6437.
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting another record increase of COVID-19 cases for the third day in a row, with today’s 1,925 cases exceeding by one case yesterday’s record of 1,924. The average number of daily cases over the past seven days has increased by 25 to 1,820.
There are 13 new cases to report today in the greater Kawarthas region, including 8 in Northumberland, 3 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 1 in Peterborough, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes, with the total number of active cases across the region decreasing by 6 to 87. Effective Monday (December 7), the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit region has joined Peterborough Public Health and Hastings Prince Edward Health in Ontario’s ‘Yellow-Protect‘ level.
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Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto (601), Peel (512), York (167), and Durham (133).
There are double-digit increases in Hamilton (76), Waterloo (61), Simcoe Muskoka (60), Halton (54), Ottawa (48), Windsor-Essex (46), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (30), Niagara (27), Middlesex-London (23), Eastern Ontario Health Unit (22), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (11), and Huron Perth (10), with smaller increases in Thunder Bay (9), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (7), Southwestern Public Health (6), and Brant County (6).
The remaining 14 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with 5 health units reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s cases, 50% are among people under 40 years of age, with the highest number of cases (674) among people ages 20 to 39 followed by 571 cases among people ages 40 to 59. With 1,412 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 84.7%. Since the last update on December 4, the average positivity rate across Ontario has increased by 0.4% to 4.0%, meaning that 40 out of every 1,000 tests performed were positive for COVID-19 on December 6.
Ontario is reporting 26 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 13 in long-term care facilities. Hospitalizations have increased by 24 to 725, although this number excludes reports from around 40 hospitals. There are 9 more patients with COVID-19 in ICUs and 12 more patients on ventilators.
A total of 45,283 tests were completed yesterday, and the backlog of tests under investigation has decreased by 16,612 to 31,238.
There are 138 new cases in Ontario schools today, an increase of 9 from December 4, with 109 student cases and 29 staff cases. There are 23 new cases in licensed child care settings, an increase of 3 from December 4, with 9 cases among children and 14 cases among staff.
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 13 new cases to report, including 8 in Northumberland, 3 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 1 in Peterborough, and 1 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no new cases in Haliburton.
An additional 8 cases have been resolved in Northumberland, 7 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 2 in Peterborough, and 2 in Kawartha Lakes.
While the Ontario data indicates that none of today’s reported new cases in Ontario schools and child care settings are in the greater Kawarthas region, St. Peter Catholic Secondary School in Peterborough reported on December 7 that there has been a second confirmed case of COVID-19 in the school community; the school reports the individual has been isolating at home, did not attend school while they were infectious, and that the health unit says there is no risk to students or staff.
There are currently 87 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, including 35 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 28 in Northumberland, 17 in Peterborough, and 7 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 228 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (206 resolved with 5 deaths), 205 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (179 resolved with 32 deaths), 117 in Northumberland County (88 resolved with 1 death), 27 in Haliburton County (27 resolved with no deaths), and 171 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (134 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on November 23.
Province-wide, there have been 129,234 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,925 from yesterday, with 109,402 resolved cases (84.7% of all cases), an increase of 1,412 from yesterday. There have been 3,798 deaths, an increase of 26 from yesterday, with 2,391 deaths in long-term care homes, an increase of 13 from yesterday. The number of hospitalizations has increased by 24 to 725, although this number excludes reports from around 40 hospitals. There are 9 more patients with COVID-19 in ICUs and 12 more patients on ventilators. A total of 6,626,589 tests have been completed, an increase of 45,283 from yesterday, with 31,238 tests under investigation, a decrease of 16,612 from yesterday.
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.
Confirmed positive: 228 (increase of 1) Active cases: 17 (decrease of 1) Close contacts: 50 (decrease of 1) Deaths: 5 (no change) Resolved: 206 (increase of 2) Hospitalizations (total to date): 12* Total tests completed: Over 37,350 (increase of 50) Institutional outbreaks: Fairhaven (no change)
*Peterborough Regional Health Centre reports that, as of December 4, there are 2 patients with COVID-19 on inpatient units and 1 patient with COVID-19 in ICU (transferred from a partner hospital).
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: 349, including 205 in Kawartha Lakes, 117 in Northumberland, 27 in Haliburton (increase of 9, including 8 in Northumberland and 1 in Kawartha Lakes) Active cases: 35, including 7 in Kawartha Lakes and 28 in Northumberland (net decrease of 1) Probable cases: 0 (no change) High-risk contacts: 195, including 19 in Kawartha Lakes, 174 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (net increase of 10) Hospitalizations (total to date): 16, including 11 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change) Deaths: 33 (no change) Resolved: 294, including 179 in Kawartha Lakes, 88 in Northumberland, 27 in Haliburton (increase of 10, including 8 in Northumberland and 2 in Kawartha Lakes) Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
Effective December 5, the health unit is providing daily reports, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 174 (increase of 3) Active cases: 35 (decrease of 4) Deaths: 5 (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: 134 (increase of 7) Swabs completed: 7,731 Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 129,234 (increase of 1,925) Resolved: 109,402 (increase of 1,412, 84.7% of all cases) Hospitalized: 725 (increase of 24)* Hospitalized and in ICU: 213 (increase of 9) Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 121 (increase of 12) Deaths: 3,798 (increase of 26) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 2,391 (increase of 13) Total tests completed: 6,626,589 (increase of 45,283) Tests under investigation: 31,238 (decrease of 16,612)
*Around 40 hospitals did not submit data to the Daily Bed Census for December 5. The number of hospitalized patients may increase when reporting compliance increases.
New COVID-19 cases in Ontario from November 6 – December 6, 2020. 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 November 6 – December 6, 2020. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Sayers Foods in Apsley has been demolished after a fire devastated the family-owned grocery store on December 5, 2020, leaving many residents of the village and North Kawartha Township without access to a local grocery store. (Photo: North Kawartha Mayor Carolyn Amyotte / Facebook)
Community Care is stepping up to help North Kawartha Township residents, and is asking others to do the same.
After a fire destroyed Sayers Foods in Apsley on Saturday morning (December 5), many local residents who lack transportation have no access to food or regular groceries,.
The non-profit charitable organization, which serves the city and county of Peterborough, already offers Meals on Wheels, grocery delivery, and transportation support throughout North Kawartha.
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Community Care is now offering to further subsidize these programs to ensure all residents can get the food supplies they need, according to the organization’s executive director Danielle Belair.
“Our program office in Apsley will assist residents who are unable to drive, those who do not own a vehicle, or will struggle to pay to travel to Buckhorn, Bancroft, or Lakefield to buy groceries by coordinating volunteer drivers to take residents shopping or delivering groceries to them,” Belair says.
With the loss of Sayers Foods, the closest full-service grocery stores are 40 kilometres southwest in Buckhorn, 45 kilometres north in Bancroft, or 50 kilometres south in Lakefield. The cost to travel to these locations ranges between $30 to $50 per trip.
“We will also provide meals through our Meals on Wheels to help bridge the need,” Belair adds. “Community Care is here as a lifeline and I would encourage those who can to join us as we support this community.”
Community Care is looking for volunteers who can take residents to buy groceries in nearby communities, deliver purchased grocery orders to residents, or deliver Meals on Wheels to residents. Those interested in volunteering can call the Apsley office at 705-656-4589.
The organization is also encouraging donations to help provide subsidized Meals on Wheels to Apsley and North Kawartha residents who need food support, and to pay transportation costs for volunteers who will be travelling out of the community to pick up groceries. To donate, visit www.commcareptbo.org/BeALifeline.
Since the fire, Community Care’s client services team has been working to come up with solutions to aid residents.
Hamilton Bus Lines is donating the gas and driver to provide free bus transportation on Tuesdays and Fridays to Bancroft for residents to purchase their groceries. Beginning on Friday (December 11), pick-up spots will be outside the Community Care office in Apsley (126 Burleigh St.) and North Kawartha Community Centre (340 McFadden Rd.).
“This bus transport is available for all residents at no charge,” says Sarah McCall, Community Care’s community development coordinator in Apsley. “Community Care will coordinate all the scheduling for these drives.”
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Community Care’s Caremobile will also be providing transportation every Wednesday at the same pick-up locations for residents who require accessible transportation options.
“We will be able to transport people to either Bancroft or Lakefield with the Caremobile, depending on the need,” McCall adds.
Volunteer drivers will also be available to accommodate any special requests.
“We will do our best to accommodate any special needs or requests with our volunteer drivers,” McCall says. “For people who live outside Apsley and need help to get to one of the scheduled bus pick-up locations, our volunteer drivers will assist by getting people to town.”
McCall says, if residents need someone to help them shop, volunteers are also available to act as “shopping buddies”.
Frozen Meals on Wheels options will be made available for anyone with an immediate need.
“We have frozen meals in our freezer and we can make them available to anyone who needs immediate support,” McCall says.
Community Care will act as the hub to coordinate and schedule these free transportation services and access to meals.
Residents with immediate food needs should call the North Kawartha Food Bank at 705-656-1748.
Nurse Simone Jackson wearing personal protective equipment in March 2020 as she prepares to open a swab to test a patient for COVID-19 in Peterborough Public Health's clinic. (Photo courtesy of Peterborough Public Health)
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting a record increase of COVID-19 cases for the second straight day, with today’s 1,924 cases exceeding by 65 yesterday’s record of 1,859. The average number of daily cases over the past seven days has increased by 31 to 1,795.
There are 2 new cases to report today in the greater Kawarthas region, in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (from a workplace outbreak at Walmart Supercentre in Trenton). The total number of active cases across the region has decreased by 7 to 93. Effective Monday (December 7), the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit region will join Peterborough Public Health and Hastings Prince Edward Health in Ontario’s ‘Yellow-Protect‘ level.
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Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto (568), Peel (477), York (249), and Durham (104).
There are double-digit increases in Hamilton (87), Ottawa (61), Halton (51), Waterloo (47), Simcoe Muskoka (44), Niagara (35), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (32), Windsor-Essex (31), Middlesex-London (22), Eastern Ontario Health Unit (17), Southwestern Public Health (15), Leeds, Grenville & Lanark (13), Huron Perth (10), and Brant County (10), with smaller increases in Thunder Bay (7), Haldimand-Norfolk (7), and Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (7).
The remaining 13 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 3 health units (all in northern Ontario) reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s cases, 54% are among people under 40 years of age, with the highest number of cases (715) among people ages 20 to 39 followed by 527 cases among people ages 40 to 59. With 1,574 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has decreased by 0.1% to 84.8%. The average positivity rate across Ontario is unavailable on weekends.
Ontario is reporting 15 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 7 in long-term care facilities. Hospitalizations have decreased by 8 to 701, although this number excludes data from around 45 hospitals. There are 2 more patients with COVID-19 in ICUs and 7 fewer patients on ventilators.
A total of 59,251 tests were completed yesterday, and the backlog of tests under investigation has decreased by 15,343 to 47,850.
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 2 new cases to report in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (from a workplace outbreak at Walmart Supercentre in Trenton).
There are no new cases in Peterborough. Reports for Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland, and Haliburton are not available on Sundays.
An additional 6 cases have been resolved in Peterborough and 3 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties.
There are currently 93 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, including 39 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 28 in Northumberland, 18 in Peterborough, and 8 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 227 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (204 resolved with 5 deaths), 204 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (177 resolved with 32 deaths), 109 in Northumberland County (80 resolved with 1 death), 27 in Haliburton County (27 resolved with no deaths), and 171 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (127 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on November 23.
Province-wide, there have been 127,309 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,924 from yesterday, with 107,990 resolved cases (84.8% of all cases), an increase of 1,574 from yesterday. There have been 3,772 deaths, an increase of 15 from yesterday, with 2,378 deaths in long-term care homes, an increase of 8 from yesterday. The number of hospitalizations has decreased by 8 to 701, although this number excludes data from around 45 hospitals. There are 2 more patients with COVID-19 in ICUs and 7 fewer patients on ventilators. A total of 6,581,306 tests have been completed, an increase of 59,251 from yesterday, with 47,850 tests under investigation, a decrease of 15,343 from yesterday.
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.
Confirmed positive: 227 (no change) Active cases: 18 (decrease of 6) Close contacts: 51 (no change) Deaths: 5 (no change) Resolved: 204 (increase of 6) Hospitalizations (total to date): 12* Total tests completed: Over 37,300 (increase of 150) Institutional outbreaks: Fairhaven (no change)
*Peterborough Regional Health Centre reports that, as of December 4, there are 2 patients with COVID-19 on inpatient units and 1 patient with COVID-19 in ICU (transferred from a partner hospital).
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. These numbers are from December 5.
Confirmed positive: 340, including 204 in Kawartha Lakes, 109 in Northumberland, 27 in Haliburton (increase of 7, including 5 in Northumberland and 2 in Kawartha Lakes) Active cases: 36, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes and 28 in Northumberland (net increase of 5) Probable cases: 0 (no change) High-risk contacts: 185, including 23 in Kawartha Lakes, 160 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (net increase of 7) Hospitalizations (total to date): 16, including 11 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change) Deaths: 33 (no change) Resolved: 284, including 177 in Kawartha Lakes, 80 in Northumberland, 27 in Haliburton (increase of 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Haliburton) Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
Effective December 5, the health unit is providing daily reports, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 171 (increase of 2) Active cases: 39 (decrease of 1) Deaths: 5 (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: 127 (increase of 3) New swabs completed: 70 Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 127,309 (increase of 1,924) Resolved: 107,990 (increase of 1,574, 84.8% of all cases) Hospitalized: 701 (decrease of 8)* Hospitalized and in ICU: 204 (increase of 2) Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 109 (decrease of 7) Deaths: 3,772 (increase of 15) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 2,378 (increase of 8) Total tests completed: 6,581,306 (increase of 59,251) Tests under investigation: 47,850 (decrease of 15,343)
*Around 45 hospitals did not submit data to the Daily Bed Census for December 4. The number of hospitalized patients may increase when reporting compliance increases.
New COVID-19 cases in Ontario from November 5 – December 5, 2020. 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 November 5 – December 5, 2020. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Former Toronto artist Julii McMillan (middle), who is now living in Peterborough, is one of the founders of the "Neighbourhood Love" public art campaign, launched this fall in Etobicoke when a family received hate mail after having a mural commissioned on their garage door. McMillan has joined with local artists Bethany LeBlonc (left), Dawn Pond, Brooklin Stormie, and Olivia Chessman and Toronto artists Julia Prajza and Bareket Kezwer (right) to paint six window murals in downtown Peterborough as part of the "Love for the Boro" initiative, including this mural at the old Patch Store at Hunter and George. (Photo courtesy of Love for the Boro)
A viral public art campaign called “Neighbourhood Love” that began in Toronto this fall has now made its way to Peterborough.
“Love for the Boro” debuted on Friday night (December 4) during the monthly First Friday Peterborough arts crawl through a so-called “mural scavenger hunt”.
Local artists Dawn Pond, Bethany LeBlonc, Brooklin Stormie, and Olivia Chessman joined Toronto artists Julia Prajza, Julii McMillan, and Bareket Kezwer to paint six murals in storefront windows in downtown Peterborough.
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“Love for the Boro is a community-led and supported initiative,” reads a media release from the Peterborough Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA), one of the initiative’s sponsors.
“Together we can make love visible by creating safe spaces and opportunities to express what we love as individuals and as a community. We have the power to support, uplift, inspire and connect with each other, even when we must stay apart.”
Along with Toronto artist Natalie Very B., Toronto artists McMillan (who now lives in Peterborough) and Prajza are the founders of Neighbourhood Love, which began in September after an Etobicoke woman received anonymous hate mail in response to a mural on her garage door.
After Etobicoke resident Sapna Shah commissioned a mural to be painted on her garage door in September, she received anonymous hate mail. In response, a group of Toronto artists launched the “Neighbourhood Love” initiative where 20 professional artists painted 25 colourful murals on house and garage doors, porches, and mailboxes in Shah’s South Etobicoke neighbourhood over the Thanksgiving weekend. (Photos: Joanna Lavoie/Torstar)
Soon after commissioning Natalie Very B. to paint the mural on her garage door, Sapna Shah found two anonymous letters in her mailbox, one of which claimed she had “devalued all of the homes in this area with that hideous graffiti” and that the mural “has made the entire neighbourhood look like a low income ghetto.”
After Shah shared the vitriolic letter with its classist and racist undertones on Facebook and the Toronto Star published a story about it, there was an outpouring of support for the Shah family.
That included the artists behind Neighbourhood Love, who organized “a street-level demonstration of love”. They raised more than $3,000 through a crowdfunding campaign to cover the cost of supplies to have 20 professional artists paint 25 colourful murals — depicting whimsical flora and fauna, landscapes, and geometrics — on house and garage doors, porches, and mailboxes in Shah’s South Etobicoke neighbourhood over the Thanksgiving weekend.
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By creating public art in the private sector, Neighbourhood Love was able to circumvent much slower bureaucratic procedures, such as the jury process, common for artworks in the public domain.
Now, with the newly formed sister initiative Love for the Boro, the Toronto artists along with local artists are planning to paint a total of 10 murals. Along with the Peterborough DBIA, the initiative is being sponsored by Dulux Peterborough, Summers and Co., AsONE Foundation, and private property owners.
“By creating a variety of opportunities for community participation and support we will work together to uplift, unite and inspire positive action,” the artists write on their Love for the Boro GoFundMe campaign. “We are also working to increase local public arts experience, increase local artist visibility and generate future opportunities for artists in the area”
“Love for the Boro” logo. (Photo courtesy of Love for the Boro)
“The Love for the Boro initiative will continue into the month of December with a variety of creative community engaged activities, both online and in the real world,” reads the Peterborough DBIA media release.
To learn more about the initiative and upcoming programming, follow Love for the Boro on Instagram @loveforboro.
Here’s an update on COVID-19 cases in Ontario as well as in the greater Kawarthas region.
Ontario is reporting a record increase of 1,859 new COVID-19 cases today, slightly exceeding the previous record of 1,855 reported on November 27. The average number of daily cases over the past seven days has increased by 6 to 1,764.
There are 12 new cases to report in the greater Kawarthas region, with the total number of active cases across the region increasing to 100. Effective Monday (December 7), the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit region will join Peterborough Public Health and Hastings Prince Edward Health in Ontario’s ‘Yellow-Protect‘ level.
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Most of the new cases reported today are in Toronto (504), Peel (463), and York (198).
There are double-digit increases in Hamilton (89), Windsor-Essex (86), Ottawa (72), Halton (68), Waterloo (64), Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph (48), Simcoe Muskoka (44), Eastern Ontario Health Unit (41), Durham (41), Middlesex-London (25), Niagara (23), Southwestern Public Health (15), Thunder Bay (13), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (13), with smaller increases in Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (7), Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit (6), and Leeds, Grenville & Lanark District Health Unit (6).
The remaining 14 health units are reporting 5 or fewer new cases, with only 3 health units (all in northern Ontario) reporting no new cases at all.
Of today’s cases, 52% are among people under 40 years of age, with the highest number of cases (712) among people ages 20 to 39 followed by 589 cases among people ages 40 to 59. With 1,624 more cases resolved since yesterday, the percentage of resolved cases has increased by 0.1% to 84.9%. The average positivity rate across Ontario is unavailable on weekends.
Ontario is reporting 20 new COVID-19 deaths today, including 13 in long-term care facilities. Hospitalizations have increased by 35 to 709, with 6 fewer patients with COVID-19 in ICUs and no change in the number of patients on ventilators.
A total of 59,399 tests were completed yesterday, and the backlog of tests under investigation has increased by 790 to 63,193.
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In the greater Kawarthas region, there are 12 new cases to report, including 5 in Northumberland, 3 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 2 in Peterborough, and 2 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no new cases to report in Haliburton.
An additional 5 cases have been resolved in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 4 in Peterborough, 1 in Kawarthas Lakes, and 1 in Haliburton.
There are currently 100 active cases in the greater Kawarthas region, including 40 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties, 28 in Northumberland, 24 in Peterborough, and 8 in Kawartha Lakes. There are no active cases in Haliburton.
Since the pandemic began in the greater Kawarthas region, there have been 227 confirmed positive cases in the Peterborough area (198 resolved with 5 deaths), 204 in the City of Kawartha Lakes (177 resolved with 32 deaths), 109 in Northumberland County (80 resolved with 1 death), 27 in Haliburton County (27 resolved with no deaths), and 169 in Hastings and Prince Edward counties (124 resolved with 5 deaths). The most recent death was reported in Peterborough on November 23.
Province-wide, there have been 125,385 confirmed cases, an increase of 1,859 from yesterday, with 106,416 resolved cases (84.9% of all cases), an increase of 1,624 from yesterday. There have been 3,757 deaths, an increase of 20 from yesterday, with 2,370 deaths in long-term care homes, an increase of 13 from yesterday. The number of hospitalizations has increased by 35 to 709, with 6 fewer patients with COVID-19 in ICUs and no change in the number of patients on ventilators. A total of 6,522,055 tests have been completed, an increase of 59,399 from yesterday, with 63,193 tests under investigation, an increase of 790 from yesterday.
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.
Confirmed positive: 227 (increase of 2) Active cases: 24 (decrease of 2) Close contacts: 51 (increase of 7) Deaths: 5 (no change) Resolved: 198 (increase of 4) Hospitalizations (total to date): 12* Total tests completed: Over 37,150 (increase of 50) Institutional outbreaks: Fairhaven (no change)
*Peterborough Regional Health Centre reports there are currently 2 patients with COVID-19 on inpatient units and 1 patient with COVID-19 in the ICU (transferred from a partner hospital).
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: 340, including 204 in Kawartha Lakes, 109 in Northumberland, 27 in Haliburton (increase of 7, including 5 in Northumberland and 2 in Kawartha Lakes) Active cases: 36, including 8 in Kawartha Lakes and 28 in Northumberland (net increase of 5) Probable cases: 0 (no change) High-risk contacts: 185, including 23 in Kawartha Lakes, 160 in Northumberland, and 2 in Haliburton (net increase of 7) Hospitalizations (total to date): 16, including 11 in Kawartha Lakes, 4 in Northumberland, and 1 in Haliburton (no change) Deaths: 33 (no change) Resolved: 284, including 177 in Kawartha Lakes, 80 in Northumberland, 27 in Haliburton (increase of 2, including 1 in Kawartha Lakes and 1 in Haliburton) Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health
Hastings Prince Edward Public Health’s service area is Hastings County (including Bancroft) and Prince Edward County.
Effective December 5, the health unit is providing daily reports, excluding statutory holidays.
Confirmed positive: 169 (increase of 3) Active cases: 40 (increase of 1) Deaths: 5 (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: 124 (increase of 5) Total swabs completed: 44,937* Institutional outbreaks: None (no change)
*The health unit is again reporting the total swabs completed, instead of only those completed the previous day.
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Province of Ontario
Confirmed positive: 125,385 (increase of 1,859) Resolved: 106,416 (increase of 1,624, 84.9% of all cases) Hospitalized: 709 (increase of 35) Hospitalized and in ICU: 202 (decrease of 5) Hospitalized and in ICU on ventilator: 116 (no change) Deaths: 3,757 (increase of 20) Deaths of residents in long-term care homes: 2,370 (increase of 13) Total tests completed: 6,522,055 (increase of 59,399) Tests under investigation: 63,193 (increase of 790)
New COVID-19 cases in Ontario from November 4 – December 4, 2020. 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 November 4 – December 4, 2020. The red line is the number of tests completed daily, and the dotted green line is a five-day moving average of tests completed. (Graphic: kawarthaNOW.com)
Members of the North Kawartha Fire Department continue to extinguish a fire at Sayers Foods in Apsley that happened early in the morning of December 5, 2020. The building was severely damaged in the fire and will need to be demolished, according to North Kawartha mayor Carolyn Amyotte. Until Sayers Food is able to rebuild, residents of the village of Apsley and the surrounding area will need to travel to Bancroft for groceries. (Photo: OPP)
UPDATE – Sun Dec 6
The Economic Development Co-operative of North Kawartha (EDCNK) met virtually with the Sayers family, the Mayor of North Kawartha, the Township CAO, and various community leaders to begin formulating a community response and action plan to deal with the loss of Sayers Foods. A task force has been created to mobilize volunteers and donations and is gathering information on next steps. Stay tuned for updates.
For residents with immediate food insecurity, call the North Kawartha Food Bank at 705-656-1748. Fr any assistance with shopping and/or transportation, call Community Care at 705-656-4589.
The generosity of the Apsley community is going to help them get through the loss of their only grocery store, Sayers Foods, which burned down early on Saturday morning (December 5).
Exactly one week ago, area residents came together at Sayers Food to collect more than $21,000 worth of non-perishable food for North Kawartha Food Bank, a member of Kawartha Food Share, located right across the street from the grocery store. The event was part of Kawartha Food Share’s “Winter is Coming” food drive, held in communities across Peterborough County.
Now some Apsley residents may be relying on that donated food in the short term, according to North Kawartha mayor Carolyn Amyotte, who spoke to kawarthaNOW Saturday morning after she returned from “giving my town of Apsley a big hug.”
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“Getting the fire out first is a priority today,” said Amyotte. “Our next steps will be to mobilize for food organization.”
“One of the great things about Apsley is that it’s self-sufficient,” she said. “Many people who live here have no need to drive, as we have all services needed here in town.”
Except now, with the loss of Sayers Foods, locals will need to shop at the nearest grocery store, which is located 45 kilometres north in Bancroft. This means residents without a vehicle have no access to food.
North Kawartha mayor Carolyn Amyotte (second from right) with Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith (middle) during a food drive at Sayers Foods on November 28, 2020, which raised more than $21,000 worth of food for North Kawartha Food Bank, located right across the street. Some Apsley residents may be relying on the food bank in the short term now that fire has destroyed Sayers Foods, the only grocery store in the Apsley area. (Photo: Dave Smith / Facebook)
Amyotte says the mayor of Bancroft and the local community transit system have already reached out offering transportation and assistance for those wishing to shop in Bancroft. However, the pandemic is going to make the logistics of that more complicated.
“It’s not like we can load a bus with people and transport them to shop,” she said. “We need to get this figured out.”
As for the fire itself, Amyotte noted the fire chief told her the cause is not yet known.
Members of the North Kawartha Fire Department worked through the night to control the blaze, and prevented the fire from spreading to nearby buildings. Amyotte says the fire department had to pull water from the creek, and that public works needed to sand the roads due to the water used to fight the fire freezing.
Fortunately, no injuries were reported.
A portion of Burleigh Street in Apsley, where Sayers Food is located, remains closed while the building is being demolished. The roof of the back portion of the building caved in and, although the front portion of the building — which is 150 years old — is still standing, it is also severely damaged.
Sayers Foods in Apsley was engulfed in flames in the early morning of December 5, 2020. (Photo: Sayers Foods / Facebook)
Sayers Food is independently owned and operated by the Sayers family, who live in the village. The fire is a triple tragedy for the family, as family members also work at the store and Christmas gifts were being stored there.
“Sayers is the heart of our town and our heart is a little burnt right now,” Amyotte said, pointing out that Sayers has gone “above and beyond during the pandemic” to ensure local residents were kept well-stocked.
As for owner Jeff Sayers, Amyotte said he was surprisingly upbeat when she spoke to him. He told her Sayers plans to rebuild and that he “is already talking about a bigger build.”
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As news of the fire spread, there has been an outpouring of support from the community, including from other local businesses and several cottage associations.
The fire at Sayers Food comes almost 10 years to the day when Kemp’s gas station, previously located at Burleigh and Wellington streets in Apsley, was destroyed by fire.
As many have heard the news of the fire at our local Sayers grocery store overnight we would like to offer our community…
Awful news out of Apsley this morning. Sayers Food is a staple of the community and this is just devastating. If 2020 has taught us anything, it's that we're stronger together. I know we will all come together to support everyone affected. https://t.co/UO9ZeSGYZR
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