First week of appointments at Waterloo region pediatric vaccine clinics already full
Thursday was the first day children aged six months to five years old were eligible to receive the pediatric Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, but local appointment availability didn’t last long. Waterloo Region Public Health said the first week of availability at their two clinics is already full. Over the next few weeks, they have opened 70 appointments a day.
One difference with this round of vaccine bookings is bookings can now be made only through the provincial vaccination portal - not the regions. The shots are also available at participating pharmacies and some family doctors.
“We’re very accustomed to less than five-years-old getting vaccinated in our offices requiring that more attention, particularly, the less than two,” said Dr. Sharon Bal, a Cambridge family physician.
Adam Sandler’s visit to Guelph leaves large social media footprint
The pandemonium caused by Adam Sandler’s visit to the Roytal City won’t soon be forgotten by many in the city. From inviting Sandler out for drinks through Twitter, to posting photos, and even waiting outside the Elora Quarry set for hours, fans were eagerly trying to catch up to the comedian during his visit.
The movie star was in the area for a few days filming and producing his newest Netflix project You Are SO Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah!
Staff at the Milestones in Guelph got up close and personal with Sandler who dined at the restaurant two nights in a row. Brad Clarke, manager at Milestones Guelph, said Sandler was a pleasure to meet and one of the nicest celebrities they have ever met.
“It was life-changing. He was honestly one of the nicest celebrities I have ever met,” he said.
‘Should we have hope or just give up?’: U of G residence crunch has students considering other options
With the start of the University of Guelph’s autumn semester just over a month away, some incoming students are still waiting to see if the university will be able to accommodate them in residence. The school says it isn’t able to accommodate all first-year students due to a record high enrollment.
One of the people left in limbo is Madeleine Essery, who says she was looking forward to the full first-year experience at U of G this fall.
“Through residence, you can make lifelong friends, and I think a lot of people really, really want that,” said Essery, who currently lives in Acton.
In June, Essery found out she had been waitlisted for a spot in residence.
“We went on a tour, and the tour guide was very clear that first-year students get residence,” said Kim Essery, Madeleine’s mom
She said she is currently third on the list and has moved up only two spots since being added.
Kitchener bistro on the brink of closure
A Kitchener restaurant that narrowly survived the pandemic is once again on the brink of shutting down. Elvis Ellison, owner and chef of Ellison’s Bistro, said bouncing back from pandemic lockdowns has been challenging. He said with the price of everything going up, paying bills has become even more difficult.
“Lack of funds to pay the phone bills, lack of funds to pay rent. It’s like a domino effect, like when one domino falls all of them start to fall at the same time,” he said.
Since he hasn’t been able to pay the bills, his phone line and internet have been cut off. He said it’s cost him about 40 per cent of sales this week.
“It’s a loneliness in a way.”
Ellison said he is worried if he keeps going down this path, his 18 year old bistro will have to close.
What a major housing market correction could mean for Waterloo region
A new report from Canada’s largest bank suggests the current housing market correction could turn out to be one of the largest in Canadian history, and markets in Ontario could see some of the biggest impacts.
Locally, the average home sale price in Kitchener-Waterloo has seen four straight months of declining prices. The RBC report comes following home prices in the Waterloo Region soaring during the pandemic as the average home price in Kitchener briefly passed the seven-figure mark.
READ MORE: Lower prices mean higher stress tests for homebuyers
The Kitchener-Waterloo Association of Realtors (KWAR) said the average cost of a detached passed $1 million in December, then it went up to $1.1 million in January, followed by the February report which showed an average price of just over $1.2 million.
In the report, RBC said it now expects the average home price across Canada to drop by 12 per cent by early 2023 from the highs of the February 2022 peak. This would be the steepest correction of the past five national downturns.
