Windsor-Essex's Acting Medical Officer of Health assures the public the health unit will closely monitor COVID-19 case counts and other indicators for any spike infection after the province lifted capacity limits at some businesses.
Starting Monday, restaurants, bars, gyms, and other non-essential businesses that already have to limit entrance to those who can prove they are fully vaccinated can do away with the restrictions on capacity.
CEO at the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, Nicole Dupuis, said Monday morning it won't change the enforcement strategy much.
"It's one less thing that we need to monitor," she said. "Our plan will remain the same. We'll be proactively out, proactively educating, and proactively working with our businesses and community."
The Ford government announced the loosening of restrictions last Friday and offered residents a timeline when other public health measures may be lifted too.
Capacity limits remain in place for wedding receptions and nightclubs, but those too will be lifted in mid-November.
Doctor Shanker Nesathurai said if local cases jump, the health unit can legally react.
"The legislature had contemplated the fact that local health measures may need to be modified based on the local circumstances," he explained.
Nesathurai is also comfortable with the timeline to lift masking and vaccine mandates by the end of March, so long as a feared spike in cases does not materialize.
In the meantime, recommendations for a safe Halloween will be released soon.
Kids trick-or-treating on Halloween. File photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / monkeybusiness
Nesathurai doesn't anticipate changes from last year. Masking and social distancing are still recommended. While more and more people get the shot, 80.4 per cent of residents in Windsor-Essex who are over the age of 12 now, young people remain disproportionately impacted by the virus.
On Monday, the health unit reported one death from the virus over the weekend. A man in his 60s who lived in the community became the region's 463rd fatality.
There were also a total of 43 new cases over the weekend. On Saturday, 19 infections were confirmed. There were 11 on Sunday and 13 Monday morning.
Four of those cases are still under investigation. Another 22 are from close contact with a case already being monitored by health unit staff, while 15 people were infected in the community, and two more are related to travel.
Active cases now number 161 across the region, with 103 involving a variant of concern.
Nine schools remain in an outbreak. Tecumseh Vista Academy was added to the list when a case was confirmed there on Friday.
The province reported 326 new infections on Monday, and there are 3,215 active cases across Ontario.
