There are now two active cases of COVID-19 between Hastings and Prince Edward Counties.

Hastings-Prince Edward Public Health is reporting the 54th total case today. Information on where the infected person is and how they contracted the virus has not been made available from HPE Public Health.

The other active case of the virus was reported on the 24th and was due to close contact with an infected person.

Of the now 54 cases, 47 people have recovered and five people have died.

Nearly 36,000 swabs have been done by Public Health since the pandemic began.

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While the annual nighttime parade in Maynooth is still months away, organizers have made the decision to cancel this year's edition of the Brighten the Night parade.

"The organizers realized that with all of the COVID-19 restrictions and also the inaccessibility of municipality building for indoors activities were not able to responsibly host the event," Joey Shulman tells the MyBancroftNow.com newsroom. He has a hand in helping organize the event and explains that it usually starts months ahead of time. The pandemic has thrown a wrench in their plans and made responsibly planning for the parade impossible. "Our ability to be responsible hosts has been tested this year," he says.

The float building will also be difficult, Shulman explains. The length of the process varies for the different people with floats in the parade, but all the building involves people coming in close contact with each other.

Shulman isn't sure if something else will be done on December 12th - the day the parade was scheduled to be held - but says it's unlikely another Christmas event will be done. The facilities that would normally be used like the Maynooth Community Centre and The Arlington are likely to be unavailable on parade day. The Santa visit is also difficult to pull off due to the sheer amount of people that will show up to the Hastings Highlands Public Library for it.

"We'll miss it this year," Shulman says. "It was a highlight of the year."

The MyBancroftNow.com newsroom has reached out to the organizers of the Bancroft Christmas parade, but have not gotten word yet on plans for this year's parade.

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Any visitor to the Hastings Centennial Manor in Bancroft and Hastings Manor in Belleville must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test to enter.

Hastings County council approved the new requirement last week.

"Currently any visitors into the home are required to show that they've done a test and had a negative swab," Long-Term Care Director Debbie Rollins explains to the MyBancroftNow.com newsroom. With case numbers increasing in the province, she says County council is taking this extra step to make sure long-term care home residents are being kept safe.

Rollins says there is no wiggle room with this new requirement. "Even without this extra step, we would not permit a visit without a swab," she says. Rollins adds that exemptions will be made in urgent cases. "We will provide them with full personal protective equipment to wear," she says. Rollins says that small sacrifices like this have to be made to make sure the seniors at the County's long-term care homes are protected.

"We do recognize there is a strain on our system right now with swabs getting done and results coming back," Rollins adds.

She expects this requirement to be on for the foreseeable future. Rollins says she thinks the province may make changes with visiting protocols at long-term care homes. "The more cases we see pop-up in the province, the harder it will be to not put stricter protocols in place a long-term care home," she says.

"Whatever we need to do to protect our residents, I think we're ready to do that," Rollins says.

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For the first time since the beginning of the month, Hastings-Prince Edward Public Health is reporting a new case of COVID-19.

This means there is now one active lab-confirmed case of the virus between Hastings and Prince Edward Counties. No information was released on where the case is or how the person contracted the virus.

This is the 53rd case reported by Public Health between the two regions and the fourth case to be diagnosed in September.

47 people have recovered from the virus with five people dying.

As of Friday morning, 35,545 swabs have been done by Public Health.

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Hastings-Lennox and Addington MP Derek Sloan released a video on his Facebook page saying there were some positives and negatives from Wednesday's Speech from the Throne.

The speech marked the beginning of the second session of the 43rd Canadian Parliament.

Sloan says the Liberals put forward "massive" promises, but there were things that he sees as positives. During the speech, the government said that Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor need to "come home." The two Canadians have been detained in China since December 2018. He also praised the Liberals for promising to reform the World Trade Organization. "To me that indicates that Liberals are finally stepping up the rhetoric on China," Sloan said. "They've been very weak on China."

He said he's also happy to see the Liberals commenting on interprovincial free trade. "It's something I've been talking about for many years," he said. He added that despite this, he's still concerned about the Liberals saying the party doesn't care about provincial jurisdiction.

He criticized the Liberals for promising to create one million jobs. "I don't know how they'll plan on doing that," he said. He believes they will intervene provincially - which he says he's against - and will have to "spend a lot" to make these jobs a reality.

Sloan also expressed concern about what he called a "dig" against legal gun owners. "They didn't mention in any way tackling gang crime when it comes to the illegal gun owners and criminals," he said.

The Liberals promised to make COVID-19 testing more available. "Why didn't they do that months ago?" Sloan asked. He claims Health Canada has been "dragging their feet" on making available tests that can be done in a few minutes while you're at home.

The Conservative Party has already said they do not support the Speech from the Throne. The leaders of the NDP and Bloc Quebecois have commented on the speech, but have not indicated yet whether or not their party will support it. There need to be six days allowed for MPs to debate the Throne Speech, and then a vote will be held. Since the Liberals are a minority government, they will need support from the NDP or Bloc Quebecois to avoid an election being called.

A vote date has not yet been announced.

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The Bancroft Curling Club was one of the many community groups that got together to sew masks for those in need of one (or more) in the area.

"It went incredibly well," Lesley Ferrier of the club tells the MyBancroftNow.com newsroom. She says they were able to give out over 1,200 masks thanks to some help from West Wind Gallery & Gifts in Bancroft. Ferrier says "cottagers and locals alike" picked up a free mask from the store.

When the curling club's members started making masks in May, the idea was to make masks for businesses. Ferrier said at the time that they switched from doing that to making masks for individuals as well because of the high demand.

Now that their campaign is wrapped up, Ferrier says they will be making a donation to the foodbank. The curling club was asking for donations during their campaign which was used to buy materials. They have $880 left-over and Ferrier says they will drop off a cheque at North Hastings Community Cupboard later this week.

She adds that there's also left-over material that the curling club will store unless someone wants it. Ferrier says if someone wants to take what's left and continue making masks, they're free to do so. She says to email bccmasks@gmail.com if you want to do that.

"Thank you so much for your help," she says to the community. "Bancroft came together and did an awesome job."

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Algonquin Park is a popular spot for travellers and locals alike to watch as the leaves change colours.

Long wait times are the norm this time of year at the Park, but officials say you may be waiting even longer this season. "We have implemented measures to address overcrowding and promote physical distancing in our park spaces and buildings during busy visitation times by limiting occupancy for day-use and camping in select provincial parks," stated on Ontario Parks' website. " This includes limiting the number of daily vehicle permits sold or the number of campsites available for reservations. You may notice that day use parking areas will not be as full or some campsites will remain empty during your stay."

Algonquin Park keeps its Twitter feed updated with the latest on what's happening at the Park.

"If you arrive at either the East or West Gate and we have reached capacity, you will not be able to purchase a permit (or use your seasonal pass), and you will not be able to visit the park," park officials say. The vistor centre will also be available to a limited amount of people.

On Algonquin Park's website, they suggest visiting during the week rather than the weekend. "Fall weekends get extremely busy, especially at the West Gate," they say.

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While Eagles Nest Park is open once again for people to get a bird's eye view of Bancroft, the official re-launch of the park will not be happening until spring 2021.

The re-launch ceremony was set to happen on October 1st, but with Premier Doug Ford announcing new gathering restrictions in Ontario, Chair of Hastings Destinations Trails Inc. Cathy Trimble says they are unable to hold the ceremony as planned.

The park has been closed since April while work was done to improve its accessibility. Trimble says that the work was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She explains that they had trouble getting the needed materials, which is the main reason why it took so long for the park to open up.

"A new trail to the hawk watch was worked on using old and new parts to make it more accessible," Trimble says. She adds that now the trail leading to it is accessible to those in a wheelchair or pushing a stroller. Trimble says they also have new signage up to better help people navigate the trails and two washrooms were installed at the entrance of the trail system. More garbage bins have been placed throughout the trails as well. "Making the trails safer was key," Trimble says.

Next on the list is making the hawk watch platform more accessible. Right now, Trimble says people in wheelchairs aren't able to get on it, but will once that work is completed. She didn't give a timeline for when that will be done.

Since re-opening, Eagles Nest has been busy with locals and tourists wanting to get a picture perfect view of the town, but Trimble says everyone still needs to follow the guidelines set by the province.

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50-year-old Laura Coish of Bancroft doesn't usually play OLG's Instant Crossword but, on a whim, she decided to buy a ticket and it turned out to be a winner.

Coish bought the ticket from the Shell Station on Monck Street. “I scanned my ticket using the OLG Lottery App and realized I was a big winner," she said. She joked that she thought her phone had been hacked when it popped up that she was a winner.

With her winnings, Coish says she's going to take her family on a vacation. "I want to give some of my winnings to my family and treat myself," she said when picking up the cheque in Toronto. "I’m going to book a trip to the Maldives for my husband and I when the time is right."

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