January 29, 2021

January 29th is the 29th day of 2021. There are 336 days remaining until the end of the year.

The Ontario Ministry of Education announced that school boards in four public health boards within Ontario will return to the classroom on Monday.

The Chatham-Kent and Lambton health units were not included. The Ontario Minister of Education has extended the remote learning period for elementary and secondary students up-to and including February 10th.

A further announcement is expected before that date.

Ontario will resume in-person learning for all elementary and secondary schools in 4 more public health units on February 1, 2021.

Emergency child care will continue in regions where schools remain closed. #KeepingKidsSafe

Learn more: https://t.co/Fm8RdV1IaQ pic.twitter.com/namlPDAfes

— Education Ontario (@ONeducation) January 28, 2021

Nineteen new positive COVID19 cases locally on Thursday, 9 recoveries, making the current active cases total 113 according to Chatham-Kent Public Health.

Ontario is reporting 2,093 new cases. There were more tests administered, meaning the number jump up over 2,000 for the first time in 3 days. The rolling seven-day average of cases is the lowest it has been in nearly six weeks. Hotspots are Toronto, Peel, York and Niagara.

Night two of Municipal Budget Deliberations ended last night with a proposed increase of 3.12%, that’s down from the 3.83% the night began at.

Of course, any decision made during deliberations is not considered final until the budget is passed.

The budget talks will continue next Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday if needed.

For more on the budget process click here. 

NASA added a feature to its website that lets you listen to what various things would sound like on Mars.

Mars is also much colder than Earth and the atmosphere is only 1% as dense as Earth’s, so sound doesn’t travel as well. All of these factors will affect sound on Mars, even though the differences may be subtle.

The NASA interactive compares sounds as we hear them on Earth versus how they may sound on Mars, like birds chirping or music. If you were speaking on Mars, your voice would sound more muffled and it would take longer for others to hear you.

Have a listen to the Sounds of Mars here. 

The Canadian Cancer Society has launched their “Dry-Feb” campaign to raise awareness and funds to combat cancer.

The idea is for casual drinkers to go “dry” for the month of February to improve their health and acknowledge the risks associated with drinking.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, the more you drink alcohol in any form – the higher your cancer risk.

To sign up go to DryFeb.ca and register and start looking for sponsors.

Thirteen thousand participants and $900,000 was raised last year. This will be the sixth year for the Dry-Feb challenge.

Categorised in: 5 Things You Need To Know

This post was written by Chris McLeod