Windsor-Essex reports 28 new COVID-19 cases lowest number since late March

There were 28 new cases of COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex on Tuesday, the lowest daily number for the region since the end of March.

Dr. Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health, said if public health measures are followed and with a significant portion of people vaccinated the region could be in a position to see looser restrictions once the current provincialshutdown ends.

"When people are following those measures, that's how we drop the case counts," he said at the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) daily briefing on Tuesday.

"And again, this is just a single-day case count. We have to have a pattern of seeing those lower case rates."

The last time 28 or fewer cases werereported in Windsor-Essex was March 30, just before the provincial shutdown took effect.

Those emergency measuresareexpected to last untilMay 19, provided the orderisn't extended before it expires.

Currently,157,979 people in Windsor-Essex, or roughly 36per cent of the population,havereceived at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

A total of1,104 of them were vaccinated at walk-inpop-up clinics in two hot-spot postal codes on Monday.

WECHU CEO and chief nursing officerTheresa Marentette said the clinics were "well received" and 80 per cent of those who got shots were in the 18 to 39 age bracket.

She didn't rule out the possibility of more of the pop-up clinics in the future, but noted the clinics use the same resourcesthe public health unit has for running its mass vaccination clinics.

11outbreaks active

In addition to Tuesday's lower case count, Windsor-Essex has seena recent decline in the number ofactive cases, currently 386 throughout the region, including129 cases that involve variants of concern.

Of the 28 new cases announced Tuesday, 11 are close contacts of previously confirmed cases, four arecommunity acquired and 13are under investigation.

There are seven workplace outbreaks, including:

• One in Leamington's agriculture sector.
• One in Tecumseh's construction sector.
• One in Lakeshore's food and beverage sector.
• One in Windsor's food and beverage sector.
• Three in Windsor's health-care and social assistance sector.

There are also outbreaks active at Southwest Detention Centre, Parkwood Gospel Church and Extendicare Southwood Lakes.

COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton

Lambton Public Health announced sevennew COVID-19 cases on Tuesday. There are 74COVID-19 active cases overall in Sarnia-Lambton, along with five ongoing outbreaks.

Chatham-Kent, which reported twonew cases on Tuesday, has 34active COVID-19 cases. One outbreak is active.