Over a dozen new cases of COVID-19 were reported Tuesday by Lambton Public Health.
The health unit in its daily update said the caseload since the start of the pandemic has climbed to 3,933, up 14 from Monday.
There were 23 more cases deemed resolved, up to 3,773, lowering the active case count by nine to 90. That's up from just 10 one month ago.
There are eight Sarnia-Lambton schools within the public and separate school boards reporting a total 10 confirmed student cases.
Bluewater Health has three COVID-positive patients in hospital, down one from Monday.
Lambton Medical Officer of Health Dr. Sudit Ranade said a spike in cases was expected as more people participate in social settings, especially indoors.
"I'm not surprised that they're getting higher, I'm actually just surprised that it took this long for us to get there," said Dr. Ranade. "Because, we're actually a little bit behind Chatham-Kent, Windsor, Toronto etc., which we have been through the pandemic. So, I would expect the numbers to continue to go up for a little while, and then peak and then potentially come down."
Dr. Sudit Ranade said one of the key factors everyone should pay attention to as cases go up, is the severity of the illness and hospitalizations.
"I am worried, and the reason that I'm worried is because I look over at some of our neighbours, when you look at Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and those folks are saying our health systems are completely stretched and we are even looking at shipping people out of our province to get care, that's a very concerning trend for me, because our immunization rates are not far from what their immunizations rates are."
As of September 29, Lambton Public Health said 81.4 per cent of the eligible population has received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, 76.1 per cent are considered fully vaccinated.