BARRIE, ONT. Dr. Barry Nathanson isn t mincing his words as he urges residents to heed the warnings from public health during the third wave of COVID-19. This is really a very different experience, this wave, the chief of staff at Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston said. It s not something to be trifled with. It is as dangerous as we ve been saying, and people must start to get that message. Nathanson expressed his disappointment after seeing busy shopping malls this past weekend first-hand while he shuttled life-saving equipment from one medical centre to another. Malls filled to the brim, with people either waiting in line or going inside for things that can t be all that critical. And that s where this virus is being spread, he said. And those cases we re going to see, together with cases that arise from Easter gatherings, Passover gatherings, two weeks from now. Those are the things that need to change.
BARRIE, ONT. Frustration is setting in for many Simcoe County business owners along with a province-wide shutdown aimed at curbing the spread of COVID-19. With the move from Queen s Park just weeks after a regional shutdown was lifted in Simcoe Muskoka, Melissa Ferguson, owner of Beauty & Babes Salon in Barrie, feels personal services are being targeted. I want to see fairness across the playing field; I want small businesses and big businesses to have the same opportunity to feel their families, says Ferguson. Over the past year, she s accrued nearly $100,000 in debt and qualified for rent relief just twice while still needing to put food on the table for her three-year-old daughter.
BARRIE, ONT. Adam McEachern is nursing achy muscles, sore joints and ripped-up palms. He jokes that every part of his body below his forehead hurts. But he s also feeling gratitude. Over a 24-hour period this week, the York Regional Police officer pushed his body to the limit with a fitness challenge to raise awareness of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and funds for Kerry s Place Autism Services in Aurora. McEachern moved through a gruelling circuit of exercises starting Thursday night: 5,100 squats, 3,400 push-ups, 1,700 chin-ups, and a 34-mile run. It s a mission McEachern has been training for since last May, one inspired by his seven-year-old son Caleb, who was placed on the autism spectrum when he was three-and-a-half.
BARRIE, ONT. Ontario s police watchdog is investigating the death of a man in Adjala-Tosorontio shortly after an OPP officer pulled him over. The Special Investigations Unit says the officer was driving along County Road 50 near County Road 1 just after midnight when a speeding pickup truck whizzed by. The SIU says the officer made a u-turn to follow the truck. Provincial police say their officer pulled the driver over on the 20th Sideroad, but he took off, and the officer stayed behind. The SIU says the officer later found the pickup truck in a ditch, west of Concession Road 5. The 49-year-old driver was pronounced dead at the scene.