By Canadian Press

Windsor-Essex moving into Stage 3 of Ontario’s reopening plan on Wednesday

Aug 10, 2020 | 10:54 AM

The last region in Ontario will move to the province’s final reopening stage this week, the government announced Monday, as Premier Doug Ford urged its residents to continue to exercise caution and follow public health rules.

The Windsor-Essex region will join the rest of Ontario in Stage 3 of the province’s reopening plan on Wednesday, Ontario’s chief medical officer of health said.

Dr. David Williams said he made the decision based on positive local trends, including lower transmission rates, a significant increase in testing and the local public health unit’s capacity to conduct rapid case and contact management.

Ford said the decision will allow more businesses to reopen and more people to return to work.

“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,” the premier said in a statement. 

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Outbreaks among migrant workers on farms in the region had previously held Windsor-Essex back from Stage 3, which the rest of the province entered throughout July.

On Monday, Windsor-Essex reported 11 new cases of COVID-19, with 173 cases considered active in the community. Five new agri-food workers have tested positive for the virus in the previous 24 hours.

The area’s medical officer of health stressed in his own daily media briefing that despite the economic and social relief the reopening will bring, people cannot stop practising physical distancing and wearing face coverings.

“The virus is not gone,” Dr. Wajid Ahmed said. “The virus still exists in our community.”

Ahmed said health officials are making progress in the region to contain outbreaks on local farms. Hundreds of migrant workers have contracted the virus in the region and the province continues to test and isolate them, he said.

“No one can predict what happens and which farms or workplaces can go into outbreak,” he said. “The only way to prevent that is through proactive measures.”

Ahmed said a number of factors were considered when it came to the decision to move the community forward, including local hospital capacity, which is currently at 85 per cent.

He said if the community experiences a spike in cases, elective surgeries may have to be cancelled.

“If needed the hospitals will have plans to scale back what they’re doing right now,” he said. “But those conversations will happen if it gets to the point of really being pressed for resources.”

Overall, Ontario reported 115 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday.

It was the first time in more than a week that the province saw more than 100 new cases of the novel coronavirus in a day.

The total is now 40,161, with 36,381 marked as resolved and 2,786 deaths.

Health Minister Christine Elliott acknowledged the “slight uptick” but said the trend in the province remains downward.

The minister also said 28 out of 34 of the province’s public health units reported five or fewer new cases, while 18 reported none.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 10, 2020.

Shawn Jeffords, The Canadian Press