New COVID-19 cases in Sarnia-Lambton are going to be identified by geographic zone.
Municipalities will be grouped into zones with the city expected to be divided into quadrants because of its population.
Lambton County Council approved the more detailed reporting system by weighted vote 29-7 Wednesday.
Warden Bill Weber said since the pandemic started, Lambton Public Health has only designated cases as urban or rural.
"The majority actually felt that is was best if we identified on a smaller geographical area," said Weber. "So the county is being set up in zones, just a little larger than 20,000 people in a zone."
Weber said the goal with the new zone system is to provide more information while protecting the identities of those infected.
"There's concern if a smaller area or a village is identified with positive cases, there's a stigma attached," he said. "Some people are certainly willing to have their name put out there and their family 'yes I've got it, stay away from me', but there's a lot of people that don't want to have their health issues known."
To date, Lambton Public Health says 69 per cent of the 343 confirmed cases have been in Sarnia and Point Edward, and 31 per cent in rural Lambton County.
Sarnia-Lambton has just one active case right now.