The Creemore
ECHO
Friday, April 30, 2021 Vol. 21 No. 18
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News and views in and around Creemore
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Survey gauges community commitment to Dunedin hall by Trina Berlo The Dunedin Village Hall board of directors have launched a survey designed to gauge overall use of the hall and the community’s commitment to see it through a proposed accessibility renovation. Until May 15, the hall board is asking people to weigh in on the value of the hall in terms of its use and their willingness to pitch-in and help support a fundraising effort. “I’m really looking for some community buy-in to say, yes we want the hall, yes we’ll come and help knock on doors. And we do have that in the community from a handful of people that we can always count on,” said board chair Jennifer Jansen. “I want it to be embraced by everyone who has a stake in the village.” The public outreach is in response to a proposal from Clearview Township council which has made offers to all of the municipally owned halls in the township in order to bring them to an accessibility standard set out by the province. The Accessibility for Ontarians
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Dunedin Village Hall board is asking people to participate in a survey designed to get input on future commitment to the community hall. with Disabilities Act (AODA) calls on corporations with more than 50 employees to make public spaces accessible by 2016, with the goal of having a fully accessible province by
2025. Dunedin was presented two options late last month: one option is to renovate to meet the AODA requirements set out in the Building Code at a cost
of $520,000, with the board being expected to contribute 25 per cent of the total cost at $130,000. The other option is to purchase the hall for $1 and operate it as an independent board. Jansen said the board is facing some questions and doesn’t have a lot of answers. There are many unknowns about hard deadlines and penalties. In Dunedin, pre-pandemic, the hall is used for regular exercise classes, celebrations, private bookings and is home to annual events such as the Fisherman’s Breakfast, plant sale, Handmade in the Valley, the annual community Christmas Potluck, to name a few. At the beginning of 2020 volunteers were preparing to host the 33rd annual Fisherman’s Breakfast, a favourite local event, but with the hall shut down due to health protocols, Jansen said the reality is that its only use is as a place for cyclists to park their cars while they ride. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s one of the quieter halls,” said Jansen. She said people are supportive of (See “Hall” on page 6)
COVID-19 case count surpasses 10,000 milestone by Trina Berlo Simcoe Muskoka has reached a milestone in surpassing the 10,000 case mark for COVID-19 transmission. The region’s medical officer of health Dr. Charles Gardner said this week that variants of concern (VOCs) have almost completely taken over – 95 per cent of cases reported last week were VOCs, compared to 50 per cent of cases at the beginning of the year. “So far this week all of the cases that we’ve had have been identified as variants of concern,” said Gardner. Three variants are spreading in the region, including a newly detected case of the variant from India, but the large majority are the UK B117 variant.
With many older adults having been vaccinated the transmission is largely between young and middle aged adults who now account for the highest incidence of cases in April. The weekly case count has seen a slight reduction from 714 cases the week of April 11 to 617 cases for the week of April 18. Gardner noted this is the first downturn in cases since the second week of March. “Even though it’s welcome to see it come down a bit, I do note that testing is slightly down and our percent positivity rate is slightly up so we need to be cautious in our interpretation of whether or not it has truly come down or not in terms of transmission in our
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community,” said Gardner. Sporadic transmission is at 30.9 per cent and accounts for a majority of the infected who are hospitalized (45 of the 52 in hospital). On Tuesday, there were 13 people in intensive care, which is the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic. There are currently 27 outbreaks in the region including one declared at Creedan Valley in Creemore on April 15, categorized as having fewer than five resident cases and no staff cases, and Collingwood Collegiate Institute with two cases. Vaccine rollout continues, reaching the 200,000 mark. Gardner reported a new Ontario
Science Table report states 56 to 89 per cent of the population of the province would have to be immunized to achieve herd immunity, and notes to get to the highest target will be a challenge. He said the health unit is making good headway and more vaccine is coming to the area in May. Currently, the health unit is focussing on its only provincially designated hotspot, Bradford West Gwillumbury, which is experiencing a weekly incidence rate of more than 300 cases per 100,000 population for the third straight week, compared to 107 cases per 100,000 population for all of Simcoe Muskoka and a provincial (See “Child” on page 2)