Good news for residents in Windsor and Essex County, the Ford government has finally moved the region on to Stage 3 of the province’s COVID recovery plan.
Officials say the decision was based on positive local trends of key public health indicators, including lower transmission of COVID-19, ongoing hospital capacity, public health capacity to conduct rapid case and contact management, and a significant increase in testing.
Windsor-Essex is reporting 11 new COVID-19 cases since Sunday, bringing the number of active cases to 173. Officials say five of the new cases stem from the agri-farm sector, four are in the community, and two remain under investigation. There are currently eight people in hospital with COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex, while the remainder are self-isolating.
Windsor-Essex is the final remaining community to enter Stage 3 in Ontario.
“Thanks to the collective efforts of our frontline health care workers, public health experts, and the people of Windsor-Essex, more businesses in the region can hang up their ‘Open for Business’ sign and more people can go back to work as of this Wednesday,” said Premier Doug Ford. “As all of Ontario now enters into Stage 3, I ask everyone to remain on their guard and keep following the public health measures to protect the tremendous progress we’ve made and keep this deadly virus at bay.”
Local health officials, including the Windsor-Essex chief medical officer of health, will be closely monitoring the region to see if restrictions need to be further loosened or tightened back up again.
Officials caution that everyone needs to continue to practice physical distancing, wear a face covering or mask when distancing is a challenge or where it is mandatory to do so, wash your hands, and stay home if you’re feeling sick.
For regions in Stage 3, gathering limits increased to a maximum of 50 people indoors and a maximum of 100 people outdoors, with physical distancing in place. Gathering limits apply to all social gatherings and events, as well as some higher risk activities and venues.
