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January 13, 2022

By: Chris McLeod

13/1/2022

5 Things You Need To Know

January 13th is the 13th day of the year. There are 352 days remaining until the end of the year.

Chatham-Kent Draft Budget was presented last night with a proposed tax increase of 4.74%.

The 2022 budget proposes an average property tax increase of 1.70 per cent, which could cost homeowners an additional $142 a year.

Community consultations will take place online next week (January 19 & 20) with deliberations to follow the week after.

More information on municipal budget details can be found here.

The provincial government has released more details on what the return to the classroom will look like for Ontario students.

In-person learning will return on Monday, January 17th. Students haven’t been in the classroom since December 17.

“We believe so strongly that children need to be in school,” Ontario’s education minister Stephen Lecce said. “They are essential to the mental and physical health of a child and their academic success.”

The province and its health experts, will limit COVID-19 exposure in classrooms with some improvements including:

  • New daily screening protocols that include an updated list of symptoms that reflect the Omicron variant.
  • 10 million non-fit tested N95 masks for school and childcare staff. More than 4 million high quality three-ply masks for students. Lecce said supplies for each will be replenished.
  • 3,000 additional HEPA filters to improve ventilation at 4,800 Ontario schools. HEPA units are required in kindergarten classrooms.
  • Two rapid antigen tests will be sent home with each staff member and each student, with more tests available in the coming weeks.
  • Retired teachers will be able to spend more time in the classroom to keep staffing levels stable.
  • Public health units will notify parents and guardians if 30% of staff and students in a cohort are absent from class. There will be no COVID-19 notifications otherwise. (The education minster’s office informed media late yestreday afternoon that there will be “new” reporting on website so parents can see what daily case count is in schools before 30% absenteeism rate is reported.)

Chatham-Kent Public Health reported new 71 new cases Wednesday.

The hospitalized cases is down by 4 to 24.

Ontario reports 3,448 people are now in hospital testing positive for COVID-19, which is an increase of more than 200 people in the past 24 hours. The province also had 46 COVID deaths over the 24 hour reporting period, the most reported during the Omicron wave. Ontario reported 9,782 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, with a test positivity rate of 20 per cent.

**Remember, due to testing eligibility changes the province warns the counts are an underestimate of the true spread of the virus in the community.

Municipal offices in Ridgetown, Tilbury and Dresden will be closed for a minimum of five days due to a number of staff under COVID-19 protocols.

There maybe some delays in wait times for telephone inquiries during this period. When possible, the municipality is asking citizens to use the municipal website:Chatham-Kent.ca.

The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit will welcome back guests this year; that’s the plan anyways.

It’ll be the first in-person show since 2018. It’ll once again be held downtown at Huntington Place, formerly Cobo Center.

Following the 2018 show, organizers announced plans to move the show from January to June starting in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, forced the cancellation of the 2020 show. The concept was bumped to June 2021, but that edition was also cancelled due to the pandemic.

The public show will run from September 17-25.

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