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Brantford rearrest, buffets, vaccine status: Top stories of the week

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Brantford police rearrest man recently released from prison after gunpoint vehicle theft

Brantford police say a man who was recently released from prison is now back in custody. An arrest warrant was issued on Saturday for Chad Wray-McCombs, 31, days after he was released from a Toronto prison.

On Thursday, police say Wray-McCombs was released from the Toronto Detention Centre with the stipulation he wears an ankle-mounted monitoring device.

Wray-McCombs is facing criminal charges in connection with a 2019 shooting in Brantford.

On Friday around 12:30 p.m., officials say the ankle bracelet was set off. Police say they were contacted and advised the bracelet had been tampered with.

According to a release, police used the bracelet's GPS to locate the ankle monitor at an address in Brantford where observed visible damage to it. On Monday, police said he was back in custody.

'Heartbreaking': Waterloo family's cruise trip disrupted as ship doesn't recognize mixed vaccines

If you're planning to book an international cruise trip, make sure to check the fine print on vaccine policies. That's the message from one Waterloo family, who says they can't bring everyone on board because one member has received a mixed series of vaccines, which is not recognized by the cruise line.

"I called my mom and I said, 'you can't go on the cruise with us this time because they don't accept mixed vaccines," said Waterloo resident Colette Clarke.

Clarke's mother isn't welcome on board the Norwegian Cruise that will embark from New York in October because she's had a mixed dose vaccine. Her first shot was Pfizer and her second shot was Moderna.

"I said, 'what do you mean I can't go?' I go wherever you go," said Geraldine O'Donovan, who can't go on the trip. "It's unreal, unreal, very heartbreaking."

Waterloo, Guelph universities will require COVID-19 vaccinations for students living in residence

Students living in residence at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, Conestoga College, or the University of Guelph in the next school year will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Waterloo Region's Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang is encouraging "high rates of vaccination" in student populations.

Dr. Wang added on-campus residences are high-density living areas with shared spaces, and high vaccination rates will help prevent outbreaks in those settings in the fall.

COVID-19 by the numbers (as of July 25):

  • Waterloo Region: 18,280 confirmed cases, 282 deaths, 17,865 resolved
  • Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph: 8,283 cases, 126 deaths, 8.125 resolved
  • Brant County: 3,429 cases, 20 deaths, 3,403 resolved
  • Haldimand-Norfolk: 2,725 cases, 54 deaths, 2,662 recovered
  • Huron Perth: 1,936 cases, 57 deaths, 1,865 recovered

'Disappointing': Some businesses facing backlash for declaring vaccination status of staff

Some local restaurants in Waterloo Region have received backlash for letting the public know their staff is fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

Graeme Kobayashi, owner of Counterpoint Brewing, listed his business on SafeToDo.ca, a resource cataloguing businesses with fully vaccinated staff or other vaccine policies. He said he opted to list the brewery to "show our customers who are concerned still about the pandemic about entering business that we're continue to be as safe as possible."

But soon after, he says hateful comments then came in from anti-vaccination groups that misunderstood his intent.

"We didn't force our staff to get vaccinated, they all did it on their own terms, voluntarily," Kobayashi explained.

A patron drinks a beverage at a patio in the Byward Market in Ottawa, as patios open in Ontario's first phase of re-opening amidst the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, on Saturday, June 12, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Buffet restaurants allowed to reopen, but finding self-serve options could be a challenge

Buffets have been given the green light to resume under Step 3 of Ontario's reopen plan, but self-serve options are becoming a bit harder to find as the pandemic continues. For restaurants and customers, safety amid the virus crisis is the number one concern.

At Classic Indian in Waterloo, buffet lunches were popular pre-pandemic, but the owner is hesitant to restart self-service, citing concerns about overcrowding and shared utensils.

"With the pandemic going on, we don't see buffets happening for another one year," said owner Thiru Maran.

Meanwhile, the doors are stilled closed at the Mandarin restaurants in Kitchener and Guelph. The restaurant chain is phasing its reopening, starting with other locations first.

A holiday buffet is shown in this photo. (athurstock/shutterstock.com)

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