Windsor-Essex public health defends new restrictions as COVID-19 case rate rises

Public health officials in Windsor-Essex are defendingnew public health restrictionsthat havegeneratedsome controversy, despite the fact that the pandemic continues to escalate in the region.

Dr. Wajid Ahmed,medical officer of health,presented COVID-19data on Thursdayshowing that the weekly case rate has risenslightly continuing atrend of growing case counts that began at the start of August.

The region has seen70 new cases per day on average in the last week, hetold reporters during alive YouTube broadcast.

In addition to having one of the highestCOVID-19 case rates in the province,Windsor-Essex also hadthe highest percentage of positivetests out of all of Ontario's health units in the last week.

Windsor-Essex County Health Unit CEO Nicole Dupuis said the health unit is standing by its recommendation for schools to delay extracurricular activities until at least October, saying that despite theimportance of these programs, keeping schools open has to be the top priority.

"Our region has one of the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the province andone of the lowest vaccination rates among youth in the province," she said.

Only about one in two of every eligible youth isfully vaccinated, and those 19 and under make up a quarter of all new COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, according to the health unit.

Ahmed, who last week announced strengthened public health measures for bars and restaurants, including a 12 a.m. closing time, acknowledged that while the decision is not popularwith some businesses,the current situation callsfor stronger rules.

"With the data that's in front of me, if I'm not taking any action, I'm not doing my job," he said.

73 new cases, 1 death

The health unit reported a daily increase of 73 new cases on Thursday, and 546 cases are active overall.

Public healthreported one new COVID-19 death, that of a man in his 50s. There are 24 people in hospital with COVID-19.

The number of outbreaks stood at 16 as of Thursday, including one at Berkshire Care Centre and a Kiwanis camp in Leamington.

The majority of the outbreaks aretaking place at workplaces, including five in agricultural settings. Ahmed said most of these outbreaks are considered under control.

Here's the full list of workplace outbreaks:

• Four agriculture businessesin Leamington.
• One agriculture setting in Kingsville.
• Sixhealth care and social assistance workplaces in Windsor.
• One health care and social assistance workplacein Kingsville.
• One health care and social assistance workplace in Essex.
• Onemanufacturing workplacein Windsor.
• One in a retail setting in Windsor.

COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton

Nine COVID-19 cases have been newly diagnosed in Chatham-Kent, according to the municipality's public health unit.There are 112active cases in total.

There were also nine new cases reported in Sarnia-Lambton. The region has 18 active cases in total.