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The
THIS WEEK • Editorials • Agriculture • Obituaries • Throwback
Citizen
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Thursday, May 27, 2021
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Volume 37 No. 21
Publications Mail Agreement No. 40050141 Return Undeliverable Items to North Huron Publishing Company Inc., P.O. Box 152, BRUSSELS, ON N0G 1H0
Blyth report green-lit By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen
A hero’s welcome Dave Matheson, centre-left, and Patrick Armstrong, centre-right, were welcomed to Wingham on Sunday morning by a handful of supporters, among them Lincoln and Laurie Dinning, seen welcoming them to Wingham, as they completed their challenge to travel over 100 kilometres on foot in a 24-hour period. Dubbed “100K in a Day”, the event saw the men make their way from London to Wingham, beginning at noon on Saturday and working through the night to make it
to Wingham just after 9 a.m. on Sunday morning. The pair took on the challenge to raise money for the Dave Mounsey Memorial Fund and it proved to be a success, with nearly $20,000 raised by the time they crossed the finish line. Between online donations and in-person donations along the way from individuals and groups, including a $1,000 donation from the Blyth Firefighters’ Association, the pair more-than doubled their goal of $7,500, all while honouring fallen emergency personnel along the way. (Shawn Loughlin photo)
Huron County Council is moving ahead with an engineer’s report to find a solution to traffic concerns and an increased rate of collisions at the intersection of Blyth and London Roads. Council discussed the issue at its May 19 meeting, which was held virtually via Zoom. Staff proceeded with a report on the issue after making two changes. First, two worrisome intersections - one in Blyth and one in Exeter - were split up so they could be voted on separately and secondly, phases one and two of the projects had also been split, allowing council to approve phase one of the project without necessarily approving phase two. In discussing the issue in front of them, councillors were deciding whether to proceed with an engineer’s report from B.M. Ross and Associates to find a solution to traffic concerns at the aforementioned Blyth intersection. As requested, Huron County Engineer Steven Lund provided significant supplementary information for council, including the fact that there are a number of intersections with higher collision rates than the Blyth intersection. The intersections include Highway 8 and Orchard Line near Goderich Continued on page 3
Vaccination appointments booked quickly in H-P By Denny Scott The Citizen While Huron Perth Public Health (HPPH) was anticipating moving to vaccinating those over the age of 30 through clinics last week, the announcement to move to all adults over 18 has been a welcome one. During an HPPH teleconference last week, Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Miriam Klassen said that the announcement, which came from the provincial government, may not have been expected, but is one the HPPH will work to implement. “We’re pleased to open [vaccination bookings] up to everyone over 18,” she said. “We look forward to welcoming everyone as soon as possible.” Shortly after the announcement, bookings were full for upcoming clinics, Klassen said, but as more vaccine supply becomes available,
more clinics will be added. Klassen also said that many people are receiving reminders from HPPH regarding their second doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Klassen reported one new retirement home outbreak at Goderich Place Retirement Home. The outbreak was reported on May 18 and currently one staff member and one resident are infected. There are six unidentified outbreaks including one community outbreak, one congregate living outbreak and four workplace outbreaks. As for local numbers, as of Monday, there were 1,763 confirmed cumulative cases of COVID-19 in Huron and Perth Counties, an increase of 33 reported cases, representing a smaller increase than two weeks preceding which saw jumps of 70 and 76 cases, respectively. It should be noted, however, that with the
holiday weekend, some numbers hadn’t been updated from the previous week. Of those 33 new cases, 20 were in Perth County while 13 were in Huron County. In Huron County, HPPH reported new cases in South Huron, where five new cases brought its total to 151. Huron East now has a total of 112 cases after three new cases were reported. Both Central Huron and North Huron had increases of one case, bringing their totals to 71 and 64, respectively. HPPH reported three new cases in Goderich for a total of 26. Numerous Huron municipalities had no new cases reported in them, including Morris-Turnberry (57), Howick (48), Bluewater (45) and ACW (29). In Perth County, Stratford’s total case count increased to 440 from 435. North Perth had one new case reported for a total of 407. Perth
East has 166 cumulative cases after an increase of nine cases. West Perth’s case count increased by four to 56 while St. Marys’ case count is now 45 after an increase of one. Perth South was the only Perth municipality to not see an increase over the week, remaining at 46 cumulative cases. There are 54 active cases across the two counties, a reduction of 16 since last week. In Huron County, active cases are reported in Central Huron, South Huron and Huron East, with four each and North Huron, Howick and Goderich with three each. In Perth County, active cases are found in Stratford (15), Perth East (10), West Perth (four) and North Perth and St. Marys which each have two. There are currently 188 active isolation orders, an increase of five from last week, and a total of 5,055 isolation orders have
been made, an increase of 107. The incidence rate in Huron and Perth Counties (the number of positive results per 100,000 people) dropped from 61.5 to 42.2 over the past week, with positivity per cent rates dropping more than a full percentage point from 4.06 to 3.02 per cent. ICU occupancy in Huron and Perth dropped from 92 per cent to 77 per cent while acute occupancy remained at 69 per cent. In terms of vaccinations, the number of residents receiving their first injection increased by 5,000 over the past week from 57,332 to 62,713. That represents a 4.4 per cent increase in all residents who have received their first vaccination, for a total of 51.6 per cent. Two-hundred-and-twenty more individuals have been fully vaccinated in Huron and Perth, bringing the total number of Continued on page 2