Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Omicron may not be as severe as the Delta wave, but its sheer numbers threaten to overwhelm the health care system. So says Dr. Charles Gardner while adding that 98 per cent of cases last week were Omicron. He said “you can’t rely on vaccines,” which given people false […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — An outbreak at Muskoka Shores retirement and LTC home in Gravenhurst — with 52 residents and 14 staff — is part of a four-day New Year’s weekend total of 179 Muskoka cases being reported by the health unit Tuesday. They are among 2,067 cases since last Friday’s Dec. 31 […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Ontario is back on hold for three weeks. With no end to Omicron, the province said today it’s returning to the modified version of Step Two of the Roadmap to Reopen effective tomorrow, Jan. 5. The changes in gatherings and workplace limitations will last at least 21 days (until […]
STEPHEN RICHARDS, Special to MuskokaTODAY Bourbon Street Jazz Club, 180 Queen St. West, Toronto, October 1975: George’s Italian Café on the main floor is closed today. The Basin Street Club is on the second floor and Salome Bey’s ‘Indigo’ set has been prepped for performances. Bourbon Street Jazz Club is on the first floor of […]
BRACEBRIDGE — An early New Year’s stabbing has one Bracebridge man in hospital and another charged in his stabbing yesterday. Police say that at 4:40 a.m., Jan. 1, the OPP and Muskoka EMS responded to a report of a stabbing at an address on Manitoba Street in Bracebridge. They say a 27-year-old Bracebridge man was […]
TARA COLLUM | Contributing columnist It’s time to put Auld Lang Syne on the Victrola, it’s the start of another new year. Does it feel to anyone else like it’s been 2020 for about two years now? Some sayings don’t truly hit home without lived life experience, like we never know what the future brings, […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com BRACEBRIDGE — Five staff at The Pines LTC have tested positive for COVID-19, and the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has placed the home under outbreak status. They say all staff who tested positive are symptomatic and are isolating at home. The Pines staff is working with the health unit and […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — Another day, another year, another “record.” As the calendar turns on a second devastating year, it’s not the end of the pandemic predicted. Or anywhere near it with Omicron setting daily records. How bad was 2021? The health unit reported 715 cases today — including 50 Muskoka. Last year […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com BRACEBRIDGE — With soaring Omicron cases threatening Muskoka hospitals, a COVID outbreak at South Muskoka Memorial Hospital (SMMH) has the health unit placing it in outbreak status and two impacted staff are in quarantine. That’s in addition to four other staff. There were 60 new COVID cases in Muskoka today, reports […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — With school’s return delayed two days next week, Simcoe-Muskoka is dealing with 637 COVID cases today, says the health unit. Public Health Ontario makes it 441 cases. Included in those are 60 cases in Muskoka, with more than half of them — 31 — in Huntsville, says the Simcoe-Muskoka […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — With 73 Muskoka COVID cases since Friday, the health unit says the self-isolation period starts when the person’s symptoms began or the day they were tested, whichever is earlier. And workers can return to the workplace after their self-isolation period if they have no fever and their symptoms have […]
BRACEBRIDGE — A disturbance call last night at a north end main street motel led a police to shoot and kill one dog and taser another “due to concerns for officer safety.” The OPP say that at 9 p.m., Dec. 28, officers responded to reports of a disturbance and mischief at the motel at the […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Christmas Eve was muted much as last. Some church congregations gathered in limited numbers with services pale by past years’ celebrations — perhaps more meaningful and prayerful given COVID’s long two years. And to them still hopeful that Omicron won’t prove to be as deadly and sickly and stressful […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — On the eve of what’s meant to bring hope, this year’s new beginning is more like the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. Simcoe-Muskoka hit another record at 298 cases today and Ontario nearing 10,000. Muskoka’s share is 18 cases Friday — ending the week at more than […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — “Confirmed cases underestimate the true number of people with COVID-19 infection in Simcoe Muskoka.” That’s the official word today out of the health unit, as they report another record day with 229 cases. Yesterday there were 197. Ten of them are in Muskoka — Bracebridge, Gravenhurst and Huntsville. “The […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — It’s a day of firsts. Record numbers that bluntly paint another bleak picture locally, including 19 new cases in Muskoka reported today: 197 cases today are the most in one day Simcoe-Muskoka has seen; 17,931 total confirmed cases is 1,081 more than last week, which is the largest week-over-week […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — A little $5 check valve looks to be the cause of a recent water shut down here. And not a mislabelled fluoride drum that helped lead to a four-day water scare due to “low” levels of the chemical routinely added to prevent tooth decay. That was the early, preliminary […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — It’s beginning to look a lot like … Christmas is going to be a lot like last year — and possibly worse in the days leading up to Saturday. Home for the holidays is again the sound of the season as Omicron cases climb faster than Dasher and Donner […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com GRAVENHURST — Hundreds lined up here this morning for walk-in booster shots. No going online to book an appointment. But the wait was at least two hours after the Shoppers Drug Mart opened at 8 a.m. The line-up circled the store, down Muskoka Road, around and down on to James Street […]
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com SIMCOE-MUSKOKA — With 19 Muskoka COVID cases on the weekend, Omicron’s regional effect last week was a 50 per cent increase in cases over the previous week. The 846 cases reported last week by local public health tops 564 the week before. The Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) is also […]