As the COVID-19 case rate continues to rise in Windsor-Essex the Medical Officer of Health is implementing further public health measures.
Starting on September 7, nightclubs, bars, restaurants, and adult entertainment facilities must close at midnight. Dancing will also be prohibited at these establishments unless it is part of employment and 2 meters distance can be maintained.
There will also be zero-tolerance for non-compliance on any public health measures set out by the province or the new order.
Starting September 20, weddings and funerals must be capped by the number of people who can maintain physical distance in the space with a maximum of 100 people. All attendees must be able to show proof of vaccination. Dancing will also be prohibited indoors at these events, except for the marital couple.
"We don't want to make any sweeping measures, to make blanket measures and shut down everything and have a major impact on our community. We are targeting some of these activities and these measures based on the data," said Dr. Ahmed.
Information provided in the September 3 epi-summary by the Windsor Essex County Health Unit (via YouTube)
According to the health unit's epidemiological study, 141 cases of COVID-19 have been linked to seven wedding ceremonies and receptions. Another 67 cases have been linked to 44 restaurants and 40 cases have been linked to just three nightclubs.
The Windsor Essex County Health Unit reported a case rate of 110 per 100,000 residents for the last seven days, another increase from last week. The percentage of tests coming back positive has also increased. Over the last seven days 8.9 per cent of tests in Windsor-Essex came back positive for COVID-19, that's the highest positivity rate in the province.
On Friday, the health unit reported 87 new cases of COVID-19 bringing the active number of cases up to 519. The majority of the active cases have been identified as a variant of concern. The most prevalent variant in the community now is the Delta variant.
Local hospitals are treating 16 patients for the virus. There are five people in the intensive care unit and four of those are unvaccinated.
To date, 79.6 per cent of eligible residents have received one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine while 72.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.
Dr. Ahmed said they have seen a slight increase in the number of doses being administered since the province announced the vaccine certificate program. On average there were around 600 vaccine doses being given out on Wednesday and Thursday.