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Elmira, Ontario, Canada | observerxtra.com | Volume 29 | Issue 18
Living Here | 27
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Slower home sales as buyers show more caution in the market Julian Gavaghan Observer Staff
Emergency crews responded to location on Arthur Street north of Elmira Apr. 26 after a northbound gravel truck collided with a Steve Kannon horse-drawn buggy. The horse was killed, but there were no other injuries reported.
THE NUMBER OF HOUSES SOLD in Woolwich and Wellesley has slumped by more than half within a year as cautious potential buyers wait for expected interest rate drops, say realtors. A total of 34 sales closed over the last three months compared to 85 in the same period in 2023 as homes sit on the market longer, new data shows. The number of pending sales from January 20 to
April 20 was 76, with other deals set to close in the coming months. But it still represents some nervousness about buying, said Scott Miller of Conestogo-based Red and White Realty. “A lot of people are just holding and waiting for the interest rate to drop. But I think less inventory is keeping prices steady,” he said. Data from the MLS sales system shows that the average price actually fell 2.7 per cent in Woolwich → HOUSING 6
Some 1,500 high school students in region face suspension Region of Waterloo Public Health officials see a number of issues at play as numbers increase dramatically this time around Julian Gavaghan Observer Staff
ALMOST 1,500 WATERLOO REGION HIGH school students were banned from classrooms Wednesday because their vaccine records were not up to date. That figure is almost three times the number who were suspended five years ago, the last time
Ontario’s immunization rules were fully enforced in the period before the pandemic. The 1,428 teenagers face having to stay home for 20 school days until May 30, during a busy period of preparing for June exams, unless they log their vaccines before then. The announcement by Region of Waterloo Public Health came six days
after the return to school of the last 59 out of 2,969 elementary students who were initially banned on March 27. David Aoki, the region’s director of infectious disease and chief nursing officer, said many of the suspended high schoolers had not received shots for meningitis. The highly infectious virus is known as the
“kissing disease” because it is commonly caught by teenagers and those in their early 20s when young people often congregate in close quarters. The vaccine for it is routinely given in schools to Grade 7 pupils and a lot of current secondary students missed out because they were forced to stay home during the
pandemic, Aoki said. He also said others were missing their Tdap booster for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis that is given between the ages of 14 and 16, a decade after first receiving the vaccine. “The main reason that more students have been suspended is because it has been five years since suspensions were last enforced,” Aoki explained.
“Because of this there were some parents where it went by the wayside and there were missed opportunities for catch-ups because of the pandemic.” He said increased vaccine skepticism may also be a factor, although he noted that there were not more exemption letters than previous years. → VACCINES 10
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