The County of Essex is the latest to declare a state of emergency as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
County Warden, Gary McNamara announced the new measure during a rare Sunday news conference at the Essex County Civic Centre.
He stressed social distancing to reporters who were kept a minimum of two-metres apart. BlackburnNews.com covered the event remotely.
Among other things, a declaration will give the county the power to override collective agreements and ensure essential services are staffed adequately.
It also unifies the efforts of the seven municipalities within the county.
"It also gives us the opportunity to be far more proactive, than reactive, because now we're under the umbrella, and everything flows from one voice which would be the county," said McNamara.
McNamara stresses essential services, like garbage pickup, ambulance services, even road work, which will continue.
"I mean, we've got to take care of the roads to make sure our ambulances get through," he said. "God forbid if we get snow."
A declaration also gives the county more power to enforce social distancing.
"Our public health inspectors are overwhelmed at this stage, and what it does is give us more capability to utilize police to enforce the Health Protection and Promotion Act," he explained.
In Windsor, warnings were issued to several businesses that opened St. Patrick's Day and McNamara said there are a few in the county that remained open for in-house service too.
He told reporters services like restaurants, bars, and even barbershops must close.
McNamara also echoed the warnings of public health officials and political leaders across the country urging those coming home from abroad to stay in their home and get someone else to pick up food and toiletries for them. He insisted those residents must self-isolate for 14 days.
As of Sunday, there were two confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex, but many residents say they were turned away from the assessment centre because they had not recently travelled out of the country.
Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Wajid Ahmed told reporters earlier in the week there was not yet evidence of community transmission of the virus.
With the Prime Minister announcing testing would be ramped up in the days to come, and BlackburnNews.com asked McNamara if he feared there were other cases in the community that had not been counted.
"Well, it is inevitable there will be more, and how much, I don't know," he responded.
McNamara is also the chair of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit's Board of Directors.