Download the 2022 Community Report (PDF, 20 pages, 5 MB)
Message from Dr. Nicola Mercer, Medical Officer of Health and CEO
Each year of the COVID-19 pandemic has had its own ebbs and flows, its own narrative. In 2022, WDG Public Health found itself embracing that elusive “new normal.” The virus was still with us, but with the emergence of bivalent boosters and vaccine availability for our youngest residents, what COVID meant for our region and our agency changed quite dramatically. As Medical Officer of Health and CEO of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health, I am pleased to share the 2022 Community Report which details our region’s ongoing response to the pandemic, but also the resumption, strengthening and re-imagining of traditional public health work as we began to move into an “and COVID” working reality. The 2022 Community Report provides an overview of the continuing response to the pandemic, but also, significant work done by our agency to address the rise of Mpox (formerly monkeypox), the role of climate change in the work of the agency and the ongoing work of Public Health programs for the benefit of our region. While it is true that COVID-19 will be with us for many years to come, it is also true that we are in a very different place than in 2021. WDG Public Health will continue to balance the science and real-life effects of COVID to address the many known and not-yet-known impacts on the health of our region. I am proud to present this report as an overview of the excellent work of hundreds of members of WDG Public Health and our community partners. As an agency we remain deeply committed to the continued health and well-being of all residents of Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph.