COVID-19

Northwestern Ontario has received snow much earlier this winter, which has allowed ski hills in the region to open ahead of schedule, including the Dryden Ski Club.

The early dump of snow allowed the Ski Club to open its doors in mid-December, which is earlier than expected.

“This year we’ve actually been really fortunate that the snow came.” Dryden Ski Club President, Julie Edwards said. “We rely completely on natural snow we don’t have any snow-making equipment so we very much love to do a snow dance to ensure the snow comes downs early, and we were lucky this year.”

A University of Manitoba (UM) student who was looking forward to graduating this May says that, instead, she was deregistered from the last of her courses by the school because she does not have a COVID-19 vaccination. While the courses are set to begin online, the school says they hope to return to in-person learning and students who are not vaccinated have other options.

The province is reporting 3,592 new cases on Friday, January 21.

Hospitalizations increased by 60 to 1,191 and ICU admissions decreased by one to a total of 107. 

Sadly, another eight deaths have been reported bringing the total number of deaths in the province to 3,429. 

The total active cases in the province sit at 61,615.

Cochrane's active cases have dropped to 432 while Rocky View County has dropped to 541 active COVID-19 cases. 

The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has dropped by one in Manitoba.

There are 664 people in the hospital with COVID-19, according to the provincial dashboard. They say out of those cases, 586 of those people have active cases.

There are 50 people in intensive care, with 44 patients having active cases of the virus.

The number of COVID-19 deaths is now 1,492, seven more deaths since Friday.

Deaths since Thursday include:

Public health officials advise 15 new deaths in people with COVID-19 are being reported today:

The Dryden Regional Health Centre has seen almost all of its staff roll up their sleeve and get vaccinated.

The health centre is reporting a 99 per cent vaccination rate almost a month before their February 23, 2022, mandatory staff vaccination policy comes into effect.

DRHC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Doreen Armstrong-Ross said she was very proud of the staff for a near-perfect vaccination rate.

Considering the stress, the pandemic has caused in so many facets of our lives, it is not surprising that couples’ relationships may be yet another casualty. Tracy Dean, co-owner, managing partner of Cochrane Counselling Centre confirms that it is showing up in couple relations, partnerships and marriages saying, “We are seeing a real increase in demand across all areas of support needed but definitely intimate partnerships and families.”

Both the Kenora Catholic and Keewatin Patricia District School Boards have gone ahead and canceled their quadmester two exams.

The KPDSB made it official Thursday (January 20, 2022) that no exams will be held.

On Tuesday night (January 18, 2022) the KCDSB made their announcement after TA principal Kylie Hughes sent an email to all parents informing them of the school's decision. The exams were scheduled to take place on January 26, and 27, 2022.

Efforts are underway to increase hospital bed capacity in Alberta. 

Premier Jason Kenney, health minister Jason Copping, Alberta Health Services (AHS) CEO, Dr. Verna Yiu and chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, were all in attendance during Thursday’s update on the current COVID-19 situation. 

When a bell rings in Chelsea Summer's house, it means it's time for some much-needed self-care and plenty of hugs.

Summer, who is a Cochrane resident, is a wedding planner and travel agent whose career is centred on making one of the most stressful and overwhelming days of a couple's life a memorable and adoring memory. Her life and health would be up-ended by the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic enveloped the world, she was forced to call clients and cancel their weddings.