Niagara At Large

A COVID-19 Update from the City of St. Catharines

Posted April 2^nd, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Montebello Park in St. Catharines, Niagara.. The City is now closing its parks and beaches to the public due to escalating health and safety concerns

St. Catharines/Niagara, Ontario — With the Province of Ontario ordering the closure of all outdoor recreational amenities, the City of St. Catharines will close all of its parks and beaches immediately.

The closure comes as the nation, province and City work in unison to slow the spread of COVID-19 by limiting social gatherings and practicing physical distancing. Closing the parks further limits the public spaces individuals can gather and possibly spread the virus.

Limiting transmission has become increasingly important in order to ensure vital health care resources are available for those requiring medical intervention to recover from COVID-19. Continue reading →

“We are extremely grateful to Niagara College for their support and generosity. … These items will protect our healthcare professionals as they treat our friends, neighbours and loved ones.”                                                                                                              – Roger D. Ali, president and CEO of the Niagara Health Foundation

A News Release from Niagara College in Niagara, Ontario

Posted April 2nd, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Niagara College sent the ultimate care package to the region’s healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic today – loading a truck with more than 30,000 items of personal protective equipment, with more on the way.

From right: Katie McQuestion (Campus Safety and Emergency Management Coordinator), Pam Skinner (Senior Vice President, Corporate Services), and Gordon Maretzki (Centre Manager, Advanced Manufacturing, Niagara College Research & Innovation, gather in front of the Applied Health Institute at NC’s Welland Campus on April 2 to help load boxes containing more than 30,000 personal protective equipment items that the College is donating to Niagara Health.

The supply of items was picked up from the Welland Campus on April 2 for donation to the Niagara Health Foundation. Continue reading →

“Our health care heroes need more help to contain the spread of COVID-19 and care for those already sick.”  – Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath

A Statement from Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario’s NDP Official Opposition Party

Posted April 2nd, 2020 on Niagara At Large

QUEEN’S PARK – Dire messages have been coming from the front lines of health care where more resources are needed to fight COVID-19 – and the provincial government can and must fix some of the concerns right now, says NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and the Official Opposition.

“Our health care heroes need more help to contain the spread of COVID-19 and care for those already sick,” said Horwath. “The government can take a number of steps now – starting today – to support health care workers.” Continue reading →

Are you going nuts with all of this social distancing and staying safe at home business?. Wouldn’t a nice cruise jusst about hit the spot now?

We Better Get a Grip on Reality and Make a Resolution to Agree to the Same Set of Facts Folks. If We Can’t Do That, This Whole Thing We Call A Free and Open Democracy Is Through.

A Commentary by Niagara At Large reporter and publisher Doug Draper

Posted April 1^st, 2020 on Niagara At Large

We are getting in to weeks here of all of this “social distancing” and isolating ourselves at home, and some people seem to be going a bit stir crazy.

How about this for a match made in hell? Donald Trump and the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Jr., who has been all in on the self-described “stable genius’s” first take on COVID-19, that it was just like a “mild flu” that, like a “mircale,” will disappear in a matter of weeks.

They are busting to get out again and back to business as usual – if not so much in Canada, certainly down there south of the border in Trumpland where only a week ago the self-anointed “stable genius” himself declared swinging the doors of the country wide open again by Easter

Trump’s Easter resurrection was on until health experts on his own pandemic team made public their calculations that cases of COVID-19 across North America could spike by then and the number of deaths in the United States alone could, even if the whole country agrees to stay at home, surpass 100,000.

Yet that hasn’t stopped many of Trump’s most zealous sycophants and supporters from wanting to kick down their front doors and get going again. Continue reading →

“People feel the need to be part of the solution and do something.” – Dawn Zinga, Brock’s Acting Associate Vice-President, Research

“It’s inspiring to see how the Niagara community is pulling together in so many different ways to support each other. A challenging time is bringing out the best in everyone.”                     – Niagara Health President Lynn Guerriero

News from Brock University in St. Catharines

Posted April 1st, 2020 on Niagara At Large

Niagara, Ontario – Research labs across Brock University have emptied their supply rooms to help the people who are leading Niagara’s fight against COVID-19.

Thousands of gloves, hundreds of lab coats and goggles, and cartons of face masks were loaded into a truck on Tuesday, March 31, and sent to Niagara Health, who will distribute it to front-line health workers at the region’s hospitals.

Brock Campus Store staff member Amber Alexander checks one of the lab coats being sent to Niagara health-care workers dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, while Marcel Gerard of Stacey’s Moving loads the shipment of coats and gloves.

It was the result of a campus-wide response to the request for much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) for Niagara’s health-care providers. Continue reading →