Windsor-essex stuck at Stage 2
Businesses struggling as Ford lets other regions reopen more freely
Essex County was left in the rearview mirror again Monday, as Premier Doug Ford announced most of Ontario is advancing to Stage 3 of the government’s COVID-19 recovery plan.
Rakesh Naidu, CEO of the Windsor-essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, recognized “there is a need for us to do some work” but said it’s vital the region move to Stage 3 as soon as possible.
He said struggling businesses, some barely hanging on after having no income for four months, continue to be left at a disadvantage as regions around them open up.
“That’s been our concern even when we did not move to Stage 2 along with the others,” Naidu said. “There is a potential that we will lose businesses, that local businesses will unfortunately lose out to those that are in the areas where Stage 3 is now going to be allowed.
Clearly that is something worries us because the local economy, the local businesses will suffer. So the sooner we get to Stage 3 the better.”
In the 24 regions that are advancing, restaurants, gyms and casinos can reopen with limits on how many people are allowed inside at a time. Limits to indoor gatherings will increase to 50 people. Outdoor gatherings will be capped at 100 people. Outdoor playgrounds and play structures can also reopen.
But even in the Stage 3-approved areas, “high-risk” businesses including amusement parks, buffet restaurants and overnight children’s camps will remain closed.
As for Windsor-essex and the nine other regions still stuck in Stage 2, the province said it needs more time to assess their readiness to move forward.
The Windsor Essex County Health Unit said Monday there have been 1,815 confirmed local cases. That was an increase of 15 from Sunday, including 10 new cases in the agricultural farm sector.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed, Essex County’s medical officer of health, said Monday the region should wait at least 14 days from the move into Stage 2 to see what impact that reopening has had.
But during a daily briefing before the province’s Stage 3 announcement, he added a month would be a safer bet.
“From a public health perspective, maybe the longer-term data could make sense, but recognizing that we’re trying to balance the societal and economic harm to the community as well,” he said. “So we need to use what we have learned in the last four months, following all the public health measures, and to keep practising it. That’s the only way we can move forward. That’s the only way we can contain the virus.”
Essex County initially was left behind when the rest of the province advance to Stage 2 on June 22. A public outcry prompted Ford to move Essex County — except for Leamington and Kingsville — into Stage 2 three days later.
Kingsville and Leamington, which were held back because of a massive COVID-19 outbreak among migrant farm workers, finally moved to Stage 2 on July 7.
Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens said it was no surprise the region did not advance to Stage 3 on Monday because it was already behind the rest of Ontario in the reopening process.
“The reopening plan for the province always indicated that movement between stages would involve a number of weeks, that it wouldn’t happen very quickly,” he said. “So that fact that we were delayed moving from Stage 1 to Stage 2 means we will likely be behind the same amount of time moving to Stage 3.”
Stating there’s “no doubt” the wave of infections hitting temporary farm workers was a factor in the whole region being held back, he renewed calls for the province to take the reins on handling that crisis.
“My bigger concern is to make sure that we’re not held back because of what’s happening among the migrant farm worker population,” Dilkens said.
“I want to make sure that the province is putting enough attention to the situation here in Windsor-essex and putting the right resources by way of a dedicated person responsible for the response from the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, as opposed to letting us deal with this at the local level alone.”
Since city and regional officials requested more support and a coordinated response earlier this month to handle the outbreak in the farm sector, Dilkens said he’s heard “crickets” from the province.
“All of us locally have the same concern — that the emergency response requires someone from the provincial level to lead that response,” Dilkens said. “We cannot have an effective response just with local representatives. That’s because the nature of the response requires someone who has deep tentacles into the provincial government and can get fast responses. We’re not able to do that.”