Dr. Adelle Chang On with Region of Waterloo Public Health says it's a good idea to get the flu shot now because it will offer some protection as people gather over the next two weeks.

New numbers released Friday by Region of Waterloo Public Health showed four more COVID-related deaths in the past week, bringing the total number of deaths since March 2020 to 500.

Trustees with the Waterloo Region District School Board voted in favour of encouraging students, staff and visitors to wear masks in schools, but stopped short of passing a mask mandate.

Parents and volunteers have formed the Ontario School Safety group, which is calling on the provincial government to bring back measures to curb spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses in schools. The group says they're even mulling taking legal action to see the changes.

The number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 dropped by more than half in a week, from 50 to 24, new numbers released by Region of Waterloo Public Health show.

Waterloo region's hospitals are creating a centralized COVID-19 clinic that will provide testing, medication and vaccines for the virus.

Region of Waterloo medical officer of health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang says the community has passed the peak of the seventh wave of COVID-19, but the decline in cases is moving slowly. She added more waves of the virus are expected throughout the fall and winter.

Region of Waterloo Public Health reports four more people have died after contracting COVID-19. The region has seen a drop in outbreaks and wastewater data shows virus signals appear to be plateauing for a second week.

The COVID-19 assessment centre in Cambridge, which is run by Cambridge Memorial Hospital, will close this weekend so staff can be temporarily reassigned to the hospital. It comes as the region reports an increase in outbreaks at long-term care and group home settings.

New numbers released by Region of Waterloo Public Health on Friday showed hospitalizations and outbreaks linked to COVID-19 are on the rise in Waterloo region, although wastewater data shows virus signals have plateaued.

Starting Thursday, anyone over 18 can get a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, but Region of Waterloo Public Health doesn't plan to re-open its mass vaccination clinics. The doses will be delivered at pharmacies, doctors offices and community spaces, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang says.

The emergency department in Mount Forest, Ont., will close evenings and overnights this Saturday and Sunday because of "significant gaps in nursing coverage."

It's been six months since many health-care workers in and around Waterloo region received their third dose (or booster) of the COVID-19 vaccine. They're asking when the province will offer fourth doses, but the Ministry of Health has not revealed a timeline.

Hospitals in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County will continue to require visitors to wear masks beyond when Ontario's mandate lifts on Saturday.

When it comes to masking to curb the spread of COVID-19 these days, there's no specific rules people need to follow, local medical officers of health say. It will 'vary according to individual comfort levels' but also know, outside is better than inside, they say.

The region's last mass COVID-19 vaccination clinic is set to close. The clinic, at The Boardwalk in Waterloo, will close on June 12.

University of Waterloo researchers, who test wastewater in Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo for COVID-19, say signals for the virus are trending downwards but 'the signal remains high.'

Friday's update of COVID-19 signals in Waterloo region's wastewater indicated it appears the latest wave of the virus has plateaued. The region's dashboard said the wastewater signal is 'dominated' by Omicron sub-variant BA-2.

When Laura McCran-McDermott saw how another wave of the pandemic was impacting her colleagues in December, the social worker at St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener, Ont., asked her son's school if they could do anything to brighten spirits. They responded with a message of resilience.

The sixth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to impact hospitals where workers are off because they're sick or have had close contact with someone with symptoms. Wastewater data shows most cases are from the Omicron BA.2 subvariant.

Local business owners say there have been delays, denials and confusion when they try to access the $10,000 Ontario Small Business Relief Grant from the province.