As health unit vows to enforce stricter COVID-19 measures, group vows to continue protesting

Police officers in unmarked vehicles kept their distance from a group of about 30 people who stood on the Windsor waterfront andprotested against what they call "harmful" COVID-19 measures on Sunday afternoon.

The protesters are vowing to hold a rally every Sunday in defiance of public measures put in place by the province and the local health units to control the spread of COVID-19.

People attending Sunday'srallydid not wear masks and did not socially distance.

"While it is important for people to gather peacefully and to show their protest in whatever form that they are doing but on top of that there are still regulations requirements which are affecting, not only just these people that are against it, it is affecting everyone in the community," Dr. Wajid Ahmed, Windsor-Essex County medical health officer said.

This rally comes as the number of cases in the region and in the province are increasing at a faster rate.

The province has elevated the level from green to yellow or from "prevent" to "protect" which meansenhanced enforcement and fines for people caught disobeying the orders.

The localHealth Unit said it would be going above and beyond what the province is implementing, saying there will be zero tolerance for those caught breaking COVID-19 prevention measures.

The Windsor Police Service could not confirm whether any fines or infractions were handed out over the weekend.

"I'll go to court, I'll lose everything, I'll stand for the freedom of the people, Canadians," said protester Joshua Boyciuc.

Boyciuc, who attended the rally carrying a Trump flag, said he went along with government measures in the beginning of the pandemic, but as time wore on, he said his own research led him to different conclusions.

Hedoesn't believe that masks are effective and he says he thinks that a shutdown does more harm than good.

"I'm not against masks.People want to wear masks, they can, but for me, myself, I don't think it works," Boiciuc said.

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The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit encourages the wearing of face coverings in public spaces to protect people from spreading respiratory droplets.

"As droplets can travel up to 2 metres...wearing a face covering will help prevent respiratory droplets from reaching others or landing on surfaces," information on the health unit's page reads.

Standing in defiance

Others at the rally also disagreed with measures being implemented by the province and by local officials.

"I wear my mask when I go out for other people,"Jacqueline Oxleysaid. "I'm not going to take a fine, like you can try to fine me, like I'll go to court, I'll fight it."

She saidthe rally wasn't really an anti-mask rally, but rather the intention is to have the countryreturn to what it was pre-pandemic and remove the restrictions.

"I don't want to keep six feet away from me and the person beside me, and the arrows in the stores, and the masks covering everybody's faces and happiness, you don't go into a store and smile anymore as a nice gesture and that's sad," she said.

Ahmedsaid that for the most part, people in the communityare following public health measures and understand the importanceof doing so.

"If you're looking at the number of people that we are talking about, these are like a very few people that shows up at these protests and many of them are not from this region," Ahmed said.

"We need to act on it and we're hoping we can work together to do some enforcement there to keep everyone safe."