Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — With the prime minister in self-isolation, local public health reports 239 COVID cases today. That’s up from 204 yesterday. But it’s the 61 people in hospitals that are of note Thursday. That’s 6 more than yesterday. And 9 people are in ICU, up from 7 the day before. There […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Health unit figures show Gravenhurst trails the rest of Muskoka percentage-wise in most vaccination age categories. An look at their numbers — in charts below as of today — shows only among seniors do residents of the Gateway to Muskoka compare favourably with other residents in the district among […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — While nobody believes reported COVID numbers — even governments don’t trust them — “confirmed” cases remain a barometer. Odd how last year Russians and Chinese were accused of the same. Still they are a snapshot of where we are today and indicative part of the pandemic puzzle. So the […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Think it’s cold here? If you’re in China anywhere near Beijing and you’re shopping for cold medicine … you automatically have to be tested for COVID. The deep chill is part of a “zero tolerance” policy ahead of the Olympics. This as 326 new COVID cases are being reported […]
STEPHEN RICHARDS | Special to MuskokaTODAY.com FICTION Continued from Episode 4 Marley’s apartment in “The Grave” – 2012 Bart is seated in a burgundy jacquard-print wing chair. Marley is on a bench playing ‘Moonglow’ on the c.1900 Carl Bechstein grand piano. Desmond, Bart’s Maine Coon cat, is curled up on an ottoman. Bart asks Marley […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — COVID’s impact appears to finally be hitting local hospitals harder. With the provincial switch in reporting to hospitalizations from overall cases, Muskoka hospitals, too, have succumbed to their highest hospitalization rates in two years. This as the health unit reported late, this afternoon, 456 cases since Friday — and […]
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist You want to talk, Bell? Okay, let’s talk. About how despite a national campaign for mental health, your employees are so stressed out by the high-pressure sales tactics they are ordered to impose on us citizens for fear of reprisals and job loss that they whistle the blew to the […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — January is proving a deadly month for COVID with 27 people in the region dying the first three weeks of 2022. Another one was in Muskoka yesterday in a particularly fatal week with 9 deaths reported for an overall total of 17 now. They bring to 317 the number […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — The end of the month may be the latest beginning of the end for COVID. At least the province thinks so as it moves toward loosening its grip on business by allowing them to welcome back up to half their in-house customer base. This as confirmed local cases dropped […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Muskoka has almost doubled it number of COVID deaths this past week. Six more Muskokans have died, including five in long-term care, Dr. Charles Gardner confirmed this afternoon. Among today’s lag in deaths reported were 5 who were 80+ (2 men and 3 women) and a man 65-79 who […]
BRACEBRIDGE – Police continue to look for the whereabouts of a man reported missing from Bracebridge on Saturday. The OPP reported today that James Gamble, 48, has since been seen in the Orangeville area. They say that on Jan. 15 at 10:30 a.m. police received a missing person report that the Bracebridge resident left home […]
HUNTSVILLE — Police are looking for black GMC Sierra pickup after an ATV was stolen on a trailer here Sunday. They say that on Jan. 16 at 3 p.m. an unknown person or persons stole an ATV trailer loaded with an ATV from 741 Muskoka Rd. #3, in Huntsville. The ATV and trailer are described […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Sunshine greeted local students today as schools finally reopened a day late — but with some fanfare. High schoolers in Gravenhurst got to see a ‘Welcome Back Gryphons’ electronic billboard on their way into classes — even if it was meant for yesterday’s snow day. Teachers, staff and students […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — So much for a return to in-person learning in much of Ontario. School buses in Muskoka were cancelled this morning by local school boards due to snowfalls and students were offered remote learning on the first day of the much anticipated — and debated — end of the Christmas […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Golf club owner Don MacKay is moving up in the world local aviation. The man behind Bracebridge’s Muskoka Highlands course is the new chair of the Muskoka District Airport in Gravenhurst. He trades places with Bud Purves, who will remain, along with Robin Garret who will also stay on […]
BRACEBRIDGE — A man who left work in his truck yesterday has not been since. Provincial police are investigating a report of the missing 48-year-old from the Bracebridge. The say this morning at 10:30 a.m. police received a report that James Gamble had left his residence Friday on his way to work. After arriving he left […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Days before schools reopen, locally reported COVID cases climbed slightly today to 362 as concerns grow among most Canadians about Omicron’s chilling effect. Winter of discontent no doubt. Both federal and regional health officials forecast ever more cases in to early February. Simoce Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) said […]
UTTERSON — Conroy Bissonette had to do a double-take after looking at his lotto ticket. “I played my ticket in my car and when I saw I won I couldn’t believe it. “Tears started running down my cheeks and I kept wondering if it was real,” he said after picking up the $100,000 Instant 21 […]
GRAVENHURST — Police are looking for a suspect in a gas bar cash and dash earlier this month on Hwy. 11. They say that on Jan. 3 officers were dispatched to a report of a break and enter at the Shell Gas Station located northbound on Hwy. 11 south of Gravenhurst at the Kahshe Lake […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Almost 60 more regional COVID cases are being reported today than yesterday — but where they are and when they were remains a closely guarded secret by the province through its local public health unit. All it’s safe to assume it that Omicron is omnipresent in everyday life. As […]