The medical officer of health in Windsor-Essex is urging the public not to be lulled into a state of complacency by low daily numbers of COVID-19 cases.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed is expected to give details on Thursday of a second community cluster in the region. He warned the public the second wave of COVID-19 is on the way, but how bad is up to individuals and whether they follow public health measures.
"How are we taking control of our fate? If we act now, we can have a much more controlled second wave," explained Ahmed.
He said he sees a lot of parallels right now with the second wave of the 1918 flu pandemic.
"The second wave resulted in millions of deaths," said Ahmed. "Just because people thought it was over, they celebrated, and some of these social gatherings that we are seeing -- people are celebrating, oh yeah, it's done. It's not."
Windsor-Essex reported five new cases Tuesday. Of the five, three are in retirement homes, one is related to travel outside of North America, and one is the result of close contact with a previously confirmed case.
The province reported 251 new cases and four new deaths. On Monday, Ontario reported its highest number in 14 weeks, 313.
"Go back with when they possibly acquired the virus. It was probably the Labour Day weekend. Now, they're all showing up with these positive cases with symptoms," Ahmed said, admitting that in years past, he too celebrated the end of summer with a social gathering.
While some have suffered few, if any impacts of the virus, Ahmed urged people to think about others.
"We have to remember what is at stake. Just think about it. Please, talk to those who lost their businesses, people who lost their loved ones to COVID, people who lost their jobs."
The Windsor Essex County Health Unit also updated its mandatory mask order. It now applies to all libraries in the region. While the Windsor Public Library has a mask rule, Ahmed said many county libraries are covered under municipal bylaws, and some of them do not require face coverings in libraries.