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Windsor

MOHs sign letter calling for indoor masking after weeks of verbal suggestion

The Acting Medical Officer of Health in Windsor-Essex has sent the Ontario Medical Officer of Health a letter calling for a province-wide mandate for indoor masking after weeks of verbal requests.

So far, Doctor Kieran Moore has not responded to verbal suggestions from Doctor Shanker Nesathurai.

"Like you," said the letter, "we had hoped that as masking and other protections ceased to be requirements, that we would be able to get through this wave without much suffering or long-term disruption. Unfortunately, this does not seem to have played out as we had hoped."

The letter carries more than just his signature. Acting Medical Officer of Health and Commissioner Doctor Mustafa Hirji with the Niagara Region Public Health Unit and Doctor Thomas Piggott at Peterborough Public Health signed it.

"COVID-19 risk continues," said Piggott in a media release issued Thursday morning. "Masking remains a key strategy to protect yourself and others."

The letter details how in Peterborough, COVID-19 hospitalization rates recently exceeded any previous wave, while in Niagara, hospitalization rates are consistent with the peaks in the second and third waves of the pandemic.

In Windsor-Essex, the weekly summary detailing COVID-19 activity in this region suggests a decline in disease activity over the past week. Most key indicators, including the high-risk case rate, the percentage of tests that are positive, and hospitalization rates, are down. The level of viral load in wastewater is stable from the previous week. However, the number of outbreaks increased to 11 from nine.

Nesathurai won't say the burden is decreasing but said it appears to be stabilizing. All the same, he and his colleagues insist masking indoors remains the best way the public can protect themselves and others, influencing the spread of the virus and those indicators.

In the past, Nesathurai has insisted a local mandate is not enough and has pressed for either regional or provincial action. There has been dialogue with other Medical Officers in Southwestern Ontario, but Nesathurai insists the province is the best body to effect positive change.

"I think that looking at where we are in the pandemic and our experience, it's still a worthwhile measure," he said.

Nesathurai could not say when he could expect a response from Moore but said he remained optimistic the province would act.

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit reported a total of 134 new high-risk cases of COVID-19 since Tuesday, with 50 on Wednesday and 84 on Thursday. Five patients have died since Tuesday, two men in their 60s from the community, a woman in her 70s, a woman in her 80s, and a woman in her 90s living in a long-term or retirement facility. The active caseload has declined, to 216.

As of 12:30 p.m. Thursday, there were 49 patients being treated at Windsor Regional Hospital and Erie Shores Healthcare.

The health unit now only reports daily case data on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

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