When the province's stay-at-home order expires, Windsor’s Medical Officer of Health is hopeful the region will be in a positive position.
The current stay-at-home order is set to expire on May 19, 2021.
“I think we are doing ok. I wouldn’t say we are doing great; we are doing ok. We are stabilizing the cases and showing a trend that maybe it’s dropping down, and we will be in a better spot with all these restrictions that are currently in place,” said Dr. Wajid Ahmed. “By the time we are able to vaccinate quite a few of the people in our community and also with the stay-at-home order in place, we will be in a much better position when these restrictions are lifted.”
On Wednesday, the Windsor Essex County Health Unit reported 49 new cases of COVID-19 in the region. Among the new infections, 23 got the virus from close contacts, six were community-acquired, two cases are related to outbreaks, and 18 are still under investigation.
There are currently 16 active outbreaks in the community. Of those outbreaks, 13 are in workplace settings in the agricultural sector, manufacturing sector, food and beverage workplaces, and health care settings.
“So far, it hasn’t translated into any major outbreak that forces us to close any of the workplaces, but that’s the most important pressure area that I can say at this time that I am concerned about," said Dr. Ahmed. "We really want to make sure that we don’t end up having a workplace outbreak, recognizing that there are still a limited number of workplaces that are open for in-person staffing, and they need to follow all the public health measures to ensure the safety of their workers.”
The health unit is monitoring 453 active cases in the community. Of the active cases, 132 have been identified as variants of concern.
Local hospitals are treating 18 Windsor-Essex residents with COVID-19. However, Windsor Regional Hospital is also treating 21 patients who have been transferred from other regions.
To date, over 144,746 people locally have received at least one dose of a vaccine. To find out who is eligible for a vaccine at local clinics visit wevax.ca