The mayor of Windsor says he "fully supports" the new COVID-19 restrictions that were announced by the province.
Following Tuesday's announcement by Premier Doug Ford that Ontario would be entering a second state of emergency, Mayor Drew Dilkens put out an official statement responding to the news.
In addition, Ford announced that effective Thursday, January 14, 2021, at 12:01 a.m., the government is issuing a stay-at-home order requiring everyone to remain at home with exceptions for essential purposes, such as going to the grocery store or pharmacy, accessing health care services, for exercise or for essential work.
"I fully support the new restrictions announced by Premier Ford and will be working with city administration to ensure we are doing all we can to protect our staff and the public," said Dilkens. "The Provincial and Federal Governments have been forced to make some impossible decisions."
Dilkens' support of the new restrictions comes as the Windsor-Essex region nears 10,000 COVID-19 cases. On Tuesday, the local health unit reported 175 new cases, bringing the total case count to 9,990.
"Our hospitals are full, thousands of our neighbours have gotten sick and over 226 have now died," Dilkens said. "I’ve said many times before, no elected official seeks public office on a platform to shut down their community or set out to increase unemployment and hardship."
Ford's announcement also took place on the same day that grim projections were released by provincial health officials, which indicated that at the current rate of new cases, the daily count of deaths in Ontario could double by mid-February.
"Data released by the government indicates that not enough of us are following the important public health recommendations to bend the curve," said Dilkens. "After more than 10 months and now multiple vaccines in production, we cannot allow our desire for pre-pandemic normalcy to put our loved ones at risk when the end is in sight."
Earlier in the day, Dilkens also offered his support to The Windsor Police Service after several people were charged in relation to a protest at Windsor’s riverfront over the weekend.