With regional COVID-19 indicators trending in the right direction, the Medical Officer of Health is encouraging families to celebrate moms at a distance again this year.
Both the case rate per 100,000 residents and the test positivity rate have declined slightly since last week. Over the last seven days, the COVID-19 case rate was 66.4 for 100,000 residents. That’s down from 82.9 cases last week. The test positivity rate in Windsor was 5.4 per cent in the last seven days, down from 6.2 per cent previously.
"We would like to see those cases go down to a level which makes us more comfortable with respect to opening up all of these things. Any opportunity where more people are gathering; that’s a recipe for a disaster, and that could lead to widespread transmission. That’s why we want to encourage people, while it’s an important time for them to connect with their mothers, it’s also important to continue to follow public health measures,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed.
Dr. Ahmed said even among people who are partially vaccinated it is important to continue to social distance and wear masks when that is not possible.
“You have to be really careful, and not put anyone at risk. We know that some of these variants of concern can spread very quickly, and the vaccine may not be completely protective in those variant situations,” said Dr. Ahmed.
As of Friday morning, 37.8 per cent of the total population had received at least one dose of a vaccine. In the 60 plus age group, 83.8 per cent of have received one vaccine dose. Next week, the region is expected to administer another 22,000 doses.
The Windsor Essex County Health Unit reported 39 new cases of COVID-19 in the region on Friday. Among the new ones, 13 are close contacts, eight are community-acquired, and one is travel-related. Staff continue to investigate 17 new infections. There are 366 active cases in the community and 165 have been identified as variants of concern.