Wednesday, February 9, 2022
Southpoint Sun - 7
Essex County Council gets COVID-19 update from WECHU health officials
By Ron Giofu Members of Essex County Council received an update on the issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic from the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) and also discussed the possibilities on how to move ahead. Dr. Shanker Nesathurai, acting medical officer of health with WECHU, and CEO Nicole Dupuis appeared at last Wednesday night’s virtual meeting to provide the update as it pertains to the region. Nesathurai told County Council that “COVID still remains a challenge in the Windsor-Essex health district.” He said approximately 11,500 died of COVID-19 in the province as of last Wednesday night’s meeting with about 550 in Windsor-Essex County. Fifty-three people died locally in January, 27 people died in December and seven last
November. “Death is at least one measure of COVID-19 in the community,” he said. About 40 per cent of people on a ventilator across the province was due to COVID-19, he told County Council members last Wednesday. “My first point is when we look at the metrics and the data, COVID still remains a significant challenge,” said Nesathurai. “My second point would be that the current level of burden of disease is in part related to the public health measures that have been instituted, the vaccination status and the co-operation and commitment of the people of the health district.” Nesathurai said some provincial health measures were relaxed as of Jan. 31 and predicted it would take a least a week to see the impact on the burden of disease. “At this point in the
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pandemic, we don’t have testing capacity. If we don’t have testing capacity, then we can’t use case counts, meaning the number of people who actually tested positive as a clear metric of disease, because we are restricting testing to a subset of the community,” he said. “As we move forward in the pandemic, we’ll have to use other measures such as hospitalizations, the number of people in ICU, the number of people on a ventilator as well as data from wastewater sampling to make an assessment on the burden of disease.” The strategy moving forward, Nesathurai added, is to try to reduce and manage the burden of disease so people who are ill don’t “saturate” local hospitals. “I think the data would suggest that Omicron is probably causing, on an individual level, less se-
vere disease but, in the aggregate, more people are getting infected because it is more infectious therefore the proportion of people that present severe disease, the people that need hospitalization and ICU admission or ventilator support, is actually the risk we’re trying to mitigate,” he said. Nesathurai added there is “still a senseless burden of death” in unvaccinated people and he urged people to get vaccinated, if not for themselves then for their families. He said people are dying in the prime of the lives from a “preventable disease.” Many of those who are vaccinated and dying have other significant health issues already, he added. “One thing I think we have to consider as a culture is how do we return to a level of normality,” he said. “I don’t believe, in looking at the data
overall, that COVID is going away. If it was going away, it would go away by now. It’s been two years. I think any observer would say it’s likely we’re going to have Omicron and other variants going forward.” Things may not go back to the way they were prior to March 2020 for a while, he cautioned, and public health measures may have to be modulated to whatever risks are out there. He also said that as things normalize, how the hospital system can be reorganized to manage surges and additional demands. “I always remain an optimist. As a culture, we got through HIV, a
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disease that killed virtually everyone who got it and is now managed as a chronic illness,” he said, adding TB is also now more of a manageable illness. “I remain optimistic that with the right suite of policy choices, public health measures and rational decision making, we can move on as a community and as a culture.” Amherstburg Deputy Mayor Leo Meloche noted he lost his wife due to cancer three years ago and before she passed away, they came to the realization the radiation was worse than the disease. SEE COVID UPDATE Page 8
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Canadian Navigable Waters Act The Ontario Ministry of Transportation hereby gives notice that application has been made to the Minister of Transport, pursuant to the Canadian Navigable Waters Act for approval of the work described herein and its site and plans. Pursuant to paragraph 7(2) of the said Act, The Ontario Ministry of Transportation has deposited with the Minister of Transport, on the on-line Common Project Search Registry (http://cps.canada.ca/) under the NPP File Number 2021-404483 a description of the following work, its site and plans: MTO anticipates the dredging work will commence as early as July 2022. This dredging work will include dredging accumulated sediment and disposing of this dredged material.
artNEWS leamingtonartscentre.com/shop.leamingtonartscentre.com 519.326.2711 Visiting Hours: Wed - Fri 10-5, Sat+Sun 11-4
onView - NEW exhibitions! U22: 2022 LAC members exhibit + sale
This exhibit celebrates the strength, vitality, creativity and wealth of talent found within the LAC community. RECENT ACQUISITIONS: from the LAC collection This exhibit features peices primarily collected from 2020-2021 and includes works by Norval Morrisseau. A NEW BEGINNING: Rosalyn Raymont Bold abstract paintings representing new beginnings.
ARTboard - sales + submissions + more! BREAKING BARRIERS: call for submissions The exhibition seeks to highlight resilience and resourcefulness in coping with barriers and is open to all 2D and 3D visual art. Deadline to submit: Sunday, Feb 27. 2022 LAC MEMBERSHIPS
Renew your annual membership or become a new member today and recieve amazing perks like discounts on art supplies and exhibit submissions! Shop and sign-up for a membership online at leamingtonartscentre.com
VALENTINES DAY ART SUPPLY SALE
Store-wide art supply sale, in-store or on-line. 15% OFF on everything + NO TAX! Use discount code VDAY15 at checkout online at shop.leamingtonartscentre.com.Plus, LAC Members recieve an addition 10% OFF. February 1-14.
The LAC is a not-for profit organization reliant on community support:
Municipality of Leamington/The Southpoint Sun/Don Waffle Family/ Susan Ross/ Honey Family Foundation/ WindsorEssex Community Foundation
The work will occur in, on, over, under, through or across Lake Erie at Leamington, Ontario directly adjacent (to the south) of the Leamington Ferry Terminal and within the inner harbour and channel. There will be approximately 60,000 m3 of accumulated sediment dredged from the navigation and harbour channels of Leamington Harbour. This dredged material will be disposed of along ~ 300,000 m in the Lake Erie littoral zone along the west shore of Point Pelee. Comments regarding the effect of this work on marine navigation can be sent through the Common Project Search site mentioned above under the Comment section (search by the above referenced number) or if you do not have access to the internet, by sending your comments directly to: Navigation Protection Program – Transport Canada 100 S Front St, 1st Floor Sarnia ON N7T 2M4 Transport Canada (TC) will not make your comments on a project available to the public on the online public registry. However, any information related to a work is considered as unclassified public record and could be accessible upon legal request. As such, the information and records provided should not contain confidential or sensitive information. If you want to provide confidential or sensitive information that you think should not be made public, please contact TC before submitting it. However, comments will be considered only if they are in writing (electronic means preferable) and are received not later than 30 days after the publication of the last notice. Although all comments conforming to the above will be considered, no individual response will be sent. Posted at London, Ontario this 9th day of February, 2022 Ministry of Transportation Ontario
