Follow public health advice if you're heading across the border, Windsor's top doc says

The U.S. border reopening to non-essential travellers may be a new option to Windsorites Monday, but according to the local medical officer of health, the advice onhow to protect yourself from COVID-19 remains the same.

Dr. Shanker Nesathurai said those travelling stateside shouldfollow therecommendations that have been with us throughout the pandemic: things like washing your hands, social distancing and minimizing contact andwearing a maskindoors and in situations where you might be less than two metres away from others.

"Those are all measures that one could do wherever they are, including travelling," Nesathurai said during a virtual briefing on Monday morning.

The U.S. land border reopened to vaccinated non-essential visitors Monday morning after being closed since March 2020.

It comes as Michigan sees a large number of COVID-19 cases. Between Thursday and Friday,the daily average was more than5,000 per day. The state's vaccination rate is 58.6 per cent, though that figure includes all of those eligible, and vaccines for children five to 11 only recently got the green light.

Meanwhile, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit reported 61new COVID-19 cases since Friday. There were23 cases on Saturday, 27 on Sunday and 11 on Monday.

Across the region, 186 cases are active and nine people are in hospital.

Outbreaks

As of Monday, there are 14 ongoing outbreaks, four of which are taking place at schools.

The schools in outbreak are as follows:

• Princess Elizabeth Public School.
• cole lmentaire Catholique Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
• Vincent Massey Secondary School.
• Margaret D. Bennie Public School.

The rest of the outbreaks are taking place in community settings and workplaces:

• One in arts, entertainmentand recreation setting.
• Two in congregate settings.
• Two in construction.
• One in a correctional facility.
• One in manufacturing.
• One at a place of worship.
• One in a professional services setting.
• One in a retail setting.

The health unit has issued a COVID-19 exposure notification for Starbucks at195 Commercial Blvd. in Tecumseh. Anyone who visited on Nov.3from 9:15 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. is asked to self-monitor for symptoms for two weeks and get tested immediately if any develop.

On Monday afternoon, the health unit alerted the public to another possible exposure at Forest Glade Arena. It happened on Nov. 1 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Anyone who visited the arena during that timeis asked to self-monitor for symptoms for two weeks and get tested immediately if any develop.

COVID-19 in Sarnia-Lambton, Chatham-Kent

Chatham-Kent Public Health reported 29 new COVID-19 cases since Friday. Overall, 47 cases are active in the community.

In Sarnia-Lambton, there were nine new cases reported Monday, and 52 are considered active.