The Windsor Essex County Health Unit reported 126 new cases of COVID-19 in the region.
The cases were confirmed over the last three days. There were 44 cases for April 4, 41 cases for April 5, and another 41 cases for April 6.
The health unit has reported a major increase in the COVID-19 case rate over the last seven days. It now sits at 74.6 cases per 100,000 residents, while the last epidemiological report on March 26 showed a case rate of 38.1 per 100,000 residents.
While the local case rate has increased significantly, it is still well below the provincial average.
"We still have the opportunity to contain it. We are in a shutdown at this time and if public health measures are followed appropriately, we can bring our case rates down," said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed. "It's really important for all of us to follow the public health measures that are already put in place and use that as an opportunity to come out of this shutdown as quickly as possible."
There are currently 433 active infections in the region. Local hospitals are treating 19 people with COVID-19 and five of those are in the ICU. There are no hospitalized cases linked to variants of concern at this time.
Right now there are around 600 staff and 30 students across 24 schools who have been dismissed due to cases of COVID-19 in their cohorts. However, there are no active outbreaks within the local school systems.
Dr. Ahmed indicated he has reviewed many factors and does not believe it is necessary to move students to online learning at this time.
"Looking at the data, looking at the evidence, we are not there yet and we'll continue to monitor the data. There are currently at lot of cohorts that are currently dismissed and we'll continue to monitor the situation to see if we have to change our strategy," said Dr. Ahmed.
With stricter protocols in place, more cohorts have been dismissed but there is currently no evidence of transmission happening within the school setting. Local teachers' unions are calling for a switch to online learning until teachers and education staff have been vaccinated.
