COVID-19 spike should put Windsor-Essex residents on 'high alert': health unit

Windsor-Essex is seeing COVID-19 cases rise, and the community can take advantage of the current shutdown to get things under control, according to the medical officer of health.

"This is a great opportunity for us to turn things around and bring our case counts to a level that will allow us to open in a less restricted zone for the reopening,"Ahmed said at the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) daily briefing on Monday.

The province-wide shutdown and stay-home order that took effect last week, limiting shopping to essential goodsand closing in-person dining,is expected to last four weeks.

And while Windsor-Essex hasn'tyet seen the kind of dramatic spikein casesthat prompted thosenew measures, Dr. Wajid Ahmed said residents should remain on "high alert" due to theincreases the region is seeing.

The health unit announced 53 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, and a total of 424 cases are active overall.

More than a quarter of those cases, 124,are the more contagious variants of concern that have also been shown to heighten the risk of death.

"Our region is doing OK with the hospitalizations and ICU admissions related to COVID, but it can change very quickly, especially with the variants of concern that havebeen more predominantin the rest of the province including Windsor-Essex," Ahmedsaid.

As of Monday, there were six COVID-19 patients in Windsor-Essex hospitalsfive of whom who were in intensive-care units.

Ahmed said COVID-19 cases are also rising in schools, with outbreaks declared at two schools andmany cohorts dismissed. He said the issue is being monitoredand updates will be provided if the risk changes or if a switch to online learning is warranted.

Of the 53 new cases announced on Monday:

• 19involveclose contacts of cases that were previously identified.
• 13 werecommunity acquired, meaning there is no known source of transmission
• 21 are under investigation.

There are eightongoing outbreaks, including two at schools:Centennial Central Public School andSt. Peter Catholic School.

There are also outbreaks atSouthwest Detention Centre and Victoria Manor.

There are fiveworkplace outbreaks, taking place in the following settings:

• Kingsville's agriculture sector, an outbreak that involves the B117 variant.
• Windsor's arts, entertainment and recreation sector.
• Windsor's manufacturing sector.
• Lakeshore's manufacturing sector.
• A personal service setting in Windsor.

COVID-19exposure ID'd

The health unit has issued a COVID-19 exposure noticeforTaco Bell at3419 Tecumseh Rd. E.

Potential exposure is considered low risk, but anyone who entered the restauranton the following dates is asked to monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for two weeks after the date visited:

• April 4from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.
• April 5from 4 p.m. to7 p.m.

COVID-19 in Sarnia and Chatham-Kent

Lambton Public Health reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday. There are 127 cases active overall, along with four outbreaks. Fifty-three COVID-19 deaths have occurred since the pandemic started.

Public health officials say they have had to reschedule two immunizationclinics due to a delay on 4,000 doses of the vaccine made byModerna. The clinics were scheduled to take placein Brooke-Alvinston and Forest on Wednesday. The Forest clinic is set to go ahead on Friday whilethe Brooke Alvinston clinic is scheduledforApril 23.

Chatham-Kent Public Healthreported an increase of nine new cases; 45 cases are considered active overall. One additional COVID-19 death was reported, bringing the total to 13.