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5 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,A pril 1,2021 theifp.ca Living at home improves seniors quality of life, keeps them safe, and allows them to maintain their independence. When living at home, having access to nutritious food is essential and Heart to Home Meals makes it easy by delivering healthy and delicious meals, made with the nutritional needs of seniors in mind, right to their homes. "Life should get easier for people as they age," says Tim, co-owner of Heart to Home Meals. "And yet as people advance in age, new challenges can arise that make maintaining an independent lifestyle more difficult." Shopping for one gets harder and cooking is not as rewarding as it once was. Heart to Homes Meals handles the prep work and the cooking so seniors can receive deliveries of convenient, nutritious, and delicious meals. "We know that we play a big part in making living life at home easier," says Karen, co- owner of Heart to Home Meals. "And that is what gives us the motivation every day to go out and do what we do." For all seniors in our communities, we believe life should get easier as you age. With time lived comes wisdom, gratitude, perspective, and more free time. Staying healthy is an important part of aging well -- and it can be easy, too. Contactless meal delivery services save the day Heart to Home Meals is a compassionate and friendly service that delivers nutritious frozen meals that accommodate special dietary needs directly to customers' homes. With a menu designed by a chef and a dietician, it offers convenient, healthy, and delicious food. With over 200 selections to choose from, all Heart to Home Meals' menu items are designed with seniors in mind. The meals are delivered in a safe, contactless manner by friendly delivery teams. To learn more about Heart to Home Meals, call Karen and Tim at (289) 409-0050 or visit www.hearttohomemeals.ca. How Heart To Home Meals is making independent living easier for seniors. ADVERTISING *Some conditions may apply. We've got comfort food cravings covered. Get your FREE Menu 289-409-0050 HeartToHomeMeals.ca Choose from hundreds of delicious fall and winter comfort food classics - all with free delivery.* *Some conditions may apply. Made for Seniors The number of CO- VID-19 variant cases in Halton is rising quickly, with local health officials saying the majority of in- fections are being con- tracted through communi- ty transmission. This was among the de- tails Halton Medical Offi- cer of Health Dr. Hamidah Meghani shared during her update to regional council March 24. The region's top doctor said that in early January, almost none of the report- ed new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed or likely variant cases, which are considered highly conta- gious. But by mid-March, this figure had risen to 36 per cent. "It's now taking only about 1.7 weeks for the count of new variant cases reported since Jan. 1 to double, compared to 12.6 weeks for nonvariant cases," she said. Meghani also explained that the reproduction number for local variant cases is 1.1, meaning every variant case is infecting 1.1 people on average, com- pared to 0.8 for nonvariant cases. "This is especially trou- bling when you consider that reproduction number should ideally be much lower than one for variant cases, given that they are known to be more conta- gious," she said. Of the 383 total Halton variant cases at the time of the meeting -- 26 con- firmed for the U.K. variant and 357 that screened posi- tive -- only nine per cent of the individuals had trav- elled or been in close con- tact with someone who has travelled, noted Meghani. "This means that the vast majority of our cases likely acquired their vari- ant strain infection from community transmission right here in Ontario," she said. The U.K. variant, along with variants originating from South Africa and Brazil, have been labelled "variants of concern," as they are believed to be more contagious than the regular strain of CO- VID-19. The doubling time and reproduction number of variant cases "support the assessment of a parallel variant pandemic that has become a third wave," said Meghani. Now, Halton and the rest of the province are in "a race between the rise of variants and vaccinations efforts," she added. With vaccinations in Halton's long-term care and retirements homes al- most complete, and the in- oculation of older adults in the community underway, Meghani said Halton is be- ginning to see the benefits of the vaccines, with cases declining significantly among those 80 and older. The number of out- breaks in hospitals, long- term care and retirement homes has also decreased, going from double-digits throughout the fall and winter to only one as of March 25. "However, we are con- tinuing to declare many new outbreaks in work- places and schools partic- ularly, with some involv- ing variant cases," she not- ed. For further details on local COVID-19 cases and vaccines, visit www.hal- ton.ca/COVID19. - With files from Louie Rosella. NEWS VARIANT CASES DOUBLING RAPIDLY: PUBLIC HEALTH MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH EXTREMELY CONCERNED MELANIE HENNESSEY mhennessey@ metroland.com Dr. Hamidah Meghani, Halton Region's Medical Officer of Health has expressed her concern with the rapid rise in COVID-19 variant cases. Metroland file photo SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER AT THEIFP.CA