Chatham-Kent likely to remain in COVID-19 yellow zone, top doctor says

Chatham-Kent's medical officer of health expectsto remain in the yellow zone for now.

But that could change between now and Friday, when the province typically announces which regions are moving up or down in the province's five-stage COVID-19 restrictions framework.

Dr. David Colby made the comments at the Chatham-Kent Board of Health meeting on Wednesday.

He also noted that whileactive cases are trending downward, neighbouring Windsor-Essex is in lockdown and the London area is in the second-highest tier of restrictions, the red zone.

"We are situated in the middle of serious situations," he said.

He said that for "quite a number of weeks" Chatham-Kent's new COVID-19 cases are ultimately being traced outside the region.

"This is not a new problem for us and it's a matter of some concern ...people attempting to circumvent the local control measures," he said, adding that officials are attempting to discourage people from seeing Chatham-Kent and Lambton as "open for business."

As of Tuesday,the region has 31 active cases out of a cumulative total of 557. Threepeople from the region have died due to COVID-19.