Lambton's medical officer of health says they'll be asking the province to reconsider allowing Sarnia-Lambton to enter Stage 2 of Ontario's pandemic reopening plan along with other regions effective Friday.
Dr. Sudit Ranade told a teleconference media briefing Tuesday that he's still unsure why this area is being left behind.
He doesn't believe the risk level is higher than other jurisdictions and there have been no local cases related to cross-border travel.
"I think that we're going to be actively asking the province to revisit that decision because when we look at the numbers over the past two weeks, and certainly when you look at other indicators like health system capacity and our public health system capacity, I'm not sure that holding us back is consistent with those indicators that they have proposed."
Dr. Ranade said using a regional approach is a challenge in some areas.
"If you think about Grand Bend, the southern tip of Grand Bend is part of Lambton County but the rest of Grand Bend is in Huron County," he said. "So, if Huron County is allowed to move forward but we aren't allowed to move forward in terms of stages then that creates an interesting dynamic because even in the same town or city some places can open and some can't. I think there are some implementation issues that have to be worked out."
Dr. Ranade said excluding Sarnia-Lambton increases the burden on Lambton Public Health and puts local businesses at an unfair disadvantage when many people have just a 20-minute drive to access the same services.
As of Tuesday morning, the number of active cases in Sarnia-Lambton was at 16 with 229 people having recovered.
There have been no new confirmed cases since Sunday night, and the death toll stands at 25.
