Chatham-Kent's medical officer of health is urging people who live in regions that are currently under lockdown to follow medical guidance and stay home instead of travelling to areas within the municipality.
Dr. David Colby said extensive discussions have been held with Economic Development in regard to non-Chatham-Kent residents visiting local businesses and whether or not anything can or should be done about it.
"I am considering other measures to keep Chatham-Kent safe but restricting movement within Ontario is a legally daunting task," he said during a media teleconference. "We don't have that kind of provision in law and it's a very complicated situation."
Colby also noted that the medical officer of health for Windsor-Essex has already asked residents within the jurisdiction to respect the lockdown.
"We are supporting the directive that he has issued to the people of Windsor-Essex and we don't want to do anything in Chatham-Kent to indicate that we are not supportive of his measures," said Colby. "We are imploring everyone not to come here and to follow the instructions of your own medical officer of health in your jurisdiction."
The Public Health Unit for London and Middlesex County, which is currently under a Red-Control zone, has also urged its residents to stay home, especially during the holidays.
Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton are currently in the Yellow-Protect zone of the provincial government's colour-coded response framework.
Colby said safety precautions such as physical distancing, avoiding indoor gatherings, hand hygiene, and wearing face coverings when appropriate, have all been validated but some people still are not getting the message.
"We're even seeing continued cases in lockdown areas where nobody should be having any opportunity to catch this [virus] so this is a question of compliance and cooperation," he said. "The second wave has been built on complacency."
Colby said he views all positive COVID-19 cases as a breakdown of the precautions that have been set in place.
"It really is a bilateral situation. The person who is transmitting the virus is not taking precautions and the person who catches it is not taking precautions," he said. "This is not about victim-blaming, it's about the measures that need to take place and it's not rocket science."
On Thursday, the Chatham-Kent Public Health Unit confirmed 37 active cases of COVID-19. Local numbers were shared a few hours after the provincial government announced a record 2,432 new COVID-19 cases in Ontario.
Health Minister Christine Elliott said 737 of the new cases reported across the province on Thursday were in Toronto, 434 were in Peel, 209 in York Region, 190 in Windsor-Essex, and 142 in Hamilton.
