Windsor-Essex will have to wait a little longer to reopen additional businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Premier Doug Ford announced Monday afternoon that seven additional regions of Ontario will be permitted to enter the Stage 2 portion of reopening the province's economy, but Windsor-Essex was not on the list.
Sarnia-Lambton is among those who will be allowed to reopen some businesses on Friday morning. The other health units are Durham Region, Haldimand-Norfolk, Halton Region, Hamilton, Niagara Region, and York Region.
Toronto and Peel join Windsor-Essex in remaining at Stage One for the time being.
Minister of Health Christine Elliott pointed out that the new case numbers were the main reason behind Windsor-Essex being kept at Stage One, but she expected the region to be added soon.
"Unfortunately, the numbers in Windsor were higher than we'd like to see," said Elliott. "It's very close."
Despite the Windsor-Essex cases still higher than public officials hoped, Ford said that provincial trends have continued to go down, making the expansion of Stage 2 possible. As of Monday morning, Ontario recorded just 181 new cases, the lowest day-to-day change since March.
"With the public health trends improving day by day across the province, I am hopeful all regions of Ontario will enter Stage 2 very soon," said Ford. "But we must remain on our guard to prevent any potential surge or secondary wave by continuing to follow the sound advice of our public health officials."
The government began providing progress reports last week on regional COVID-19 trends, and 24 regions of the province were allowed to move to Stage 2. These included Chatham-Kent and London-Middlesex.
Stage 2 reopening includes bars and restaurants at reduced capacity, hair salons, barbershops, shopping malls, outdoor team sports, and others.
Even while in Stage One, Windsor-Essex is still permitted to allow gatherings of up to ten people, up from five. Places of worship are also being allowed to reopen when ready, but at lesser capacity, though the Catholic Diocese of London is keeping churches closed for the moment.