February 4, 2021

February 4th is the 35th day of 2021. There are 330 days remaining until the end of the year.

Chatham-Kent students will be heading back to the classroom on Monday.

Minister of Education Stephen Lecce made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon. Schools are being allowed to reopen in the areas where community transmission is low and other indicators are following a positive trend. However, he said he will not hesitate to close schools again should the risk of transmission increase.

On Monday, the Ministry announced a number of new protocols to help keep COVID-19 out of schools including active screening for teachers, mandatory masks for primary aged children and new guidance to discourage the congregation of staff and students before and after school.

Schools in the Toronto, York, and Peel regions will not resume in-person learning until after Family Day.

We’re focused on protecting our students & staff. This is why we have introduced tougher measures & new investments to keep schools safe & keep kids learning.

Many elementary and secondary schools will see in-person learning resume on February 8th.https://t.co/WSbc8MzmEt pic.twitter.com/PKifZ1nbZE

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2021

Chatham-Kent’s budget has been approved with an overall tax increase of 2.4 per cent for 2021.

The increase amounts to an additional $71 per year for a house assessed at $173,000 in Chatham-Kent. Going into budget deliberations, administration was proposing an increase of 3.96 per cent.

The 2021 Budget was passed after four nights of deliberations.

Chatham-Kent Public Health reported 12 new COVID19 cases on Wednesday.

There are now 127 active cases, the second-highest total in three weeks.

The outbreak at Fairfield Park in Wallaceburg is up to 71 cases now, after 12 new cases were reported. The facility is the only long-term care home in C-K where residents have gotten COVID-19.

Ontario is reporting 1,172 new cases. Toronto, York and Peel are still the provincial hotspots.

The St. Clair Catholic District School Board is holding a couple of Virtual Open Houses tonight.

KinderSTARt is at 6pm for parents and little ones heading to kindergarten in September. Register for the virtual open house here. 

For parents and students heading to high school the Grade 9 Virtual Open House is tonight at 7. Parents and students are welcome to join in. Go here for link and more info.

There’s an organization called the Dull Men’s Club, and they put out an annual calendar featuring the most boring people in the U.S. and the U.K.

And in most cases, it’s someone who collects something or studies something that’s just not interesting enough to deserve that level of attention.

This year’s calendar includes:
1. A woman in California who collects “caution wet floor” signs.
2. A man in England who’s a historian studying manhole covers.
3. A guy who’s collected 1,100 vintage washing machines.
4. The founder of the Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society in Wales.
5. And a guy in New Mexico who collects gas station memorabilia.

Exciting times for Jonnie Meier of Embudo who is Dull Mens Club calendar’s Mr. June. He runs “the largest collection of classical gas items in the country” in his Classical Gas Museum. I hang out with a lot of dull guys, but I didn’t know there was a club. https://t.co/iu60l93MNf pic.twitter.com/FHsxHHwAPZ

— Hot In Santa Fe (@HotInSantaFe) January 30, 2021

Categorised in: 5 Things You Need To Know

This post was written by Chris McLeod