A small rise in local COVID-19 infections is expected this season as colder temperatures push events and people indoors. This from Dr. Rebecca Comley, Acting Medical Officer of Health with the Brant County Health Unit.
Last week, there were 46 cases of COVID-19 in Brantford-Brant. Six Nations is reporting 12 active cases.
Dr. Comley says that 89 percent of cases in the region were in unvaccinated individuals. Only one percent of cases in Brantford/Brant were in people fully vaccinated.
Another notable rise in the Brantford/Brant cases was an increase in youth being infected. Just about half of the local cases were in youth under the age of 20 — indicating a rise in case traced back to schools and school transportation.
Last week, the Province announced the expansion of third-dose booster eligibility.
Booster eligible individuals on Six Nations can receive a third dose if they have been 6 months past their last dose. Those seeking a booster can call the COVID-19 Vaccine Clinic Call Centre at 226-227-9288.

The search has begun for unmarked graves at the former Mohawk Institute Residential School.
The site was the longest-running residential school in Canada and has officially become the focus of a criminal death investigation.
Police and residential school survivors began using ground penetrating radar to uncover unmarked graves at the school.
Phase one began this week, which means the grounds near the school itself will be searched first before expanding further.
All work is being monitored by Six Nations Survivors Secretariat human rights monitor Dr. Beverley Jacobs.
Cultural knowledge holders are conducting necessary ceremonies and traditional practices respecting the lives of any children who may potentially be buried on the grounds.
According to records, at least 45 children died or went missing while attending the Mohawk Institute.
The Ontario Provincial Police are assisting in the investigation.
Mental health supports will be available as the community prepares for the possibility of finding children’s remains.

The former chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada will aid talks between the federal government and child-welfare advocates in hopes of securing an agreement to compensate First Nations children.
The Liberal government says Murray Sinclair will chair discussions between the sidesincluding lawyers representing plaintiffs in a related class-action lawsuitas they try to settle the matter outside of court by the end of December.
Sinclair, a former senator, led the commission that spent from 2008 to 2015investigating the experiences of thousands of Indigenous people sent to residential schools as children. He is a highly respected voice on matters of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
“I’m very optimistic that we’ll be able to have an agreed-upon solution in the time frame that we’ve set,” Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu told The Canadian Press in an interview Wednesday.
She said it’s been made clear to the government negotiators that they are to be “solution-focused” in their deliberations.

Federal leaders marked the sacrifices of Indigenous veterans on Monday, as well as the discrimination they faced after returning from war.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says all flags on federal government buildings, including the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, were lowered to acknowledge the service of Indigenous veterans.
“Indigenous people who served across this country ? did that facing often systems and discrimination and barriers that were greater,” he said before a caucus meeting in Ottawa.
Trudeau added that he spoke with several Indigenous veterans earlier, “to talk about their experiences and mostly talk about the path forward, both for Veterans Affairs and for Indigenous peoples.”
It is estimated that more than 12,000 Indigenous people joined the Canadian military during the First and Second World Wars and Korea.
More than 500 were killed and countless more injured.