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The St. George Santa Claus Parade has been grounded by COVID-19.
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The parade, organized by the St. George Firefighters’ Association, was scheduled to take place 6 pm Saturday after being postponed from Dec. 11 because of poor weather that included strong winds and intermittent rain.
On Wednesday, it was canceled.
“With increasing COVID-19 cases and the emerging Omicron variant, we need to remain cautious and, unfortunately, limit large gatherings,” a Brant County statement posted on social media said. “We are very disappointed and thank you for your understanding.”
The county said it made the decision to cancel the parade in consultation with Dr. Rebecca Comely, Brant’s acting medical officer of health, and the Brant Emergency Operations Center.
The Brant County Health Unit on Thursday reported 25 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours. The number of active cases stood at 100, up from 85 on Wednesday and 74 Tuesday.
The Brant Community Healthcare System says there are five COVID patients in hospital receiving care, with two in critical care.
Ontario’s Science Advisory Table said on Wednesday that about 53 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in the province are caused by Omicron, which has a doubling time of 2.2, meaning the virus is doubling in the province approximately every three days. That means that by New Year’s Eve there could be more than 10,000 cases per day in the province.
Omicron’s effective reproduction (Rt) number is at 4.55, meaning that every person who is infected is infecting four more people. The Delta variant has a Rt value of 0.97.