in Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey
March 11, 2021
BY SOUTHGREY.CA STAFF — We open the door on another season of daylight savings time this weekend. At 2 am on Sunday morning, we will all lose some overnight sleep as clocks in our time zone spring forward by one hour, making it darker in the morning and lighter in the evening.
But you might also want to use this moment to revignite that positive outlook on life that has eluded us all, following a difficult period of an extended pandemic lockdown and COVID-19-related stress. Say goodbye to those winter blues and set your calendar for more sunny skies and warmer weather too. After all, there is encouraging news afoot!
On March 1, Grey and Bruce Counties moved into the Green Stage of the provincial COVID-19 Response Framework and many restrictive measures were lessened. Mass vaccinations among the general public began last week in Ontario and one other piece of news — insufficiently reported on — is that the total number of regular flu infections have hit record low levels this year. This is due in part, to protocols established to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Thanks go out to all of you mask-wearing, social-distancing and frequent-hand-washing citizens.
As reported by WebMD.com, Dr. Isaac Bogoch, an infectious disease specialist at the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, says that Canda's flu season has been "a complete non-event." He continued to explain that "in Canada, there was massive uptake of the flu vaccine this year” which also protected us from catastrophe. He also cites "less international travel as a reason the flu wasn’t such a big deal."
However, according to Dr. Bogoch, the biggest reason for the disappearance of the flu this year has to do with children, as many kids were kept home this winter for virtual classes and other social gatherings.
Whatever the reasons, we should count ourselves somewhat lucky to have weathered the last year as well as we have. As of this date, only two people in Grey Bruce have lost their lives due to complications caused by COVID-19, with the current tally of total confirmed cases at 721 — 704 of which, have been resolved.
Hopefully, March leaves us like a lamb and April showers, which bring May flowers, tag along an end to these troubling times.
Cue the time change!
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