Key time ahead to contain Windsor-Essex outbreaks
Testing, tracing efforts seen as crucial for region
WINDSOR, ONT.— As the Windsor-Essex region partially entered Stage 2 of the province’s reopening plan this week, political leaders, health officials and farmers in the area expressed anxiety about efforts to contain COVID-19 outbreaks in the region’s sprawling greenhouses ahead of a possible second wave of the virus this fall.
The southwestern Ontario region became a hot spot for the virus this month, as a spike in cases among migrant workers led to hundreds of positive cases and two deaths.
The outbreaks also prompted the province to reopen only part of the region this week, leaving the towns of Leamington and Kingsville, Ont., behind as Windsor and other communities reopened further. Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, who has been critical of local efforts to contain the virus, said the partial reopening is a victory, but efforts to test and track infections on farms in the coming weeks will be crucial for the entire region, and the province.
“Unless you get this under control, it could be the cause of the second wave,” Dilkens said in an interview. “Having done everything we’ve done for the last hundred days, no one wants to go back.”
COVID-19 cases on farms in Leamington and Kingsville have accounted for more than half of Windsor-Essex’s entire case count over the past month, while the virus’s spread has slowed in more populous areas. This week, Ontario announced a plan to address the farm outbreaks, including the introduction of on-site testing.
Dilkens said it’s essential that the community, with the help of provincial and federal officials, make further improvements in working and living conditions on all farms. But farmers must act as well to increase testing among their workers and provide protections, he said. Leamington Mayor Hilda MacDonald, meanwhile, said an “iron belt” must be placed around farms. She said she appealed for resources to keep the greenhouses isolated and inspected.