Good new, good news and more good news.

I wont't go to a restaurant today but if I could, I would and that makes me happy. I won't go to a gym today and I would't if I could but it makes me happy that others can. I am a cycling, cross country skiing fanatic. Some day I will need a gym where I can lift some weights and strengthen this aging body to keep it going. Best of luck to all of you who are opening up today. Thank you for hanging in there. I hope and pray we will never need to make you close your doors again. We need to learn to live with COVID-19 without the major disruption to so many of our lives. 1/ 59.1% of the eligible people in Guelph, and up, have received a booster dose. That's above the provincial average of 53 %. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT- Two dose of vaccine are very effective (90%) at preventing illness caused by the delta variant but 99.7% of new cases in the province are caused by the Omicron variant. Two doses of vaccine provide zero protection against illness caused by Omicron. Which means that going about your daily business at this time when Omicron is circulating widely, your two vaccines provide NO PROTECTION against getting infected with the Omicron variant. Two vaccines do reduce your risk of becoming seriously ill from Omicron infection with 82 % protection against severe illness and death. To put it in a different perspective, two vaccines means there is a high likelihood that you will get Omicron and an 18 % chance that you will develop life-threatening illness from Omicron if you become infected. 2 doses plus booster are very effective for reducing severe illness with Omicron. A booster dose provides 61% protection against infection by Omicron and 95% protection against developing severe illness from Omicron. There are 6.3 million people in Ontario who have had their booster dose, 59 % in Guelph. Increase that number and our community is safe again. 2/ Most experts are now saying that we have passed the peak of the Omicron wave. It is safe to start re-opening. It will take longer to slide down the tail of this peak. Omicron is so transmissible and community transmission is still widespread but serious illness, hospitalizations and deaths are the events we want to minimize. These numbers are declining too with the number of daily deaths still remaining quite high. Over the month of February, we will see all numbers slowly decline but the key is that booster dose. Short post today. This week, I will try to post about Omicron's sister the BA.2 variant. It is a very close relative of the Omicron variant and early research suggests a booster protects just as well against it. The WHO has not declared it a variant of concern yet and it has been around since mid-fall. We shall see. Some great information was shared about masks and kids in school during our last webinar. I will repost it but I will also try to summarize the key points in another post this week. Be well out there, get boosted. Go out to a restaurant and support our local businesses. It is safe. Remember that you now need to present your QR code as proof of vaccination. There is no movement towards changing the fact that two doses means fully vaccinated. Anne-Marie Please share. If you would like to be apart of the important work that Bracelet of Hope does towards making sure that vaccines are distributed in Lesotho, you can donate here: https://www.braceletofhope.ca/ways-to-give/ For non-Facebook users, you can find this post here: https://braceletofhope.blogspot.com/ For mental health support here: https://familyserviceguelph.on.ca/ For local assistance with anxiety and depression: www.here4help.ca CMHA WW Website: www.cmhaww.ca Here 24/7 at 1-844-HERE-247 or www.here247.ca. And for post-secondary students, Good2Talk https://good2talk.ca/