Region has highest daily case count in a month

Windsor and Essex County recorded its highest daily COVID -19 case increase since April 15 on Monday with three dozen additional tests for the coronavirus coming back positive.

According to the Windsor-essex County Health Unit, 33 of the 36 most recent cases are among individuals associated with multiple local farms, including community employees and temporary foreign workers.

The remaining three new cases were documented outside the agricultural industry and attributed to community spread.

“As you know, this area is home to a large agriculture sector and many large farm employers,” Dr. Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health, said during an update on the local COVID-19 situation Monday morning.

“The Windsor-essex County Health Unit has been working actively over the past few months with all of the farms, as essential services, to test their workers and provide direction on self-isolation and other health and safety measures.”

Any agricultural facility that is not taking necessary precautions to protect its employees could be shut down, Ahmed said. The health unit could also shut down facilities where the number of cases climbs too high. To date, no local farm facilities have halted operations because of COVID-19.

When an employee tests positive for COVID-19, representatives from the Ministry of Labour perform inspections and do additional work to protect other employees at the facility, Ahmed said.

The health unit works to assess how those cases pose a risk to the general community, in addition to providing information on health and safety.

“I would like to remind our employers and employees in the community to follow public health guidance. As workers come together, just like gathering in the community, this increases the risk of transmission of COVID-19.”

Employers and employees must ensure they are physically distancing themselves from others at all times, wash their hands regularly and often, and stay home if they are sick, Ahmed said. If physical distancing cannot be maintained in a workplace, employers should consider policies that require workers to wear masks to protect them from each other.

Outbreaks in health and longterm care facilities are now down to four centres at Extendicare Tecumseh (St. Alphonse), Regency Park in Windsor, Sun Parlour Home in Leamington and Heron Terrace in Windsor. That is down from eight locations on Friday and 13 on Thursday.

“It is a great relief to see our homes move in a positive direction for our community, the residents and their families,” Ahmed said.

As of Monday morning, Windsor and Essex County has 912 confirmed cases of the virus, up 69 cases from Friday. Of those, 479 people have recovered, and 63 people have died.

Tests completed stand at 15,083 with pending results down to 777 from 929 on Saturday.

Ontario announced 404 new cases on Monday as numbers continue to creep upward since the Phase 1 reopening of the province.

It’s the fifth straight day the total has been above 400 new cases as total cases in Ontario now stand at 25,904, with 29 new deaths reported to bring the province total to 2,102.

Michigan reported 202 new cases to bring its total to 54,679. The state also announced 12 new deaths from COVID-19 for a total of 5,228 since the start of the pandemic.