Windsor’s medical officer of health says stronger lockdown measures are needed to stop the spread of COVID-19.
On Monday, the Windsor Essex County Health Unit reported 127 new cases of the virus in the region. Among the new cases, 16 are related to current outbreaks, 3 are close contacts of confirmed cases, and two are community-acquired.
“Locally we do have significant concerns with the community transmission, with the cases that we are seeing and the pressures on the healthcare system,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed.
Dr. Ahmed indicated he would like to see measures in place that are similar to what was in place in March to keep more people at home.
“Even though we are saying we’re in lockdown, practically everything is open in one form or the other,” said Dr. Ahmed. “People are still going to work, or people are congregating, people are having all these social gatherings. We just want to be clear in terms of the messaging part, what exactly we’re dealing with.”
The provincial government announced a 28-day lockdown across all of southern Ontario starting on December 26.
There are currently 1,141 active cases of COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex.
Local hospitals are treating 83 patients with COVID-19, with 13 patients in the intensive care unit. There are another 118 suspected cases of COVID-19 in Windsor hospitals.
To date, the community has lost 98 people to the virus.
