Windsor stays in the red zone

Windsor-essex is not one of the regions in Ontario soon moving to a different colour zone, according to the provincial government.

The Doug Ford government announced on Friday that stay-athome orders, which are stricter than the grey “lockdown” category, are ending for Toronto, Peel region, and the North Bay-parry Sound region. Toronto and Peel will return to grey status, and North Bay-parry Sound will move one step lower to red under the COVID-19 response framework.

Seven other regions are also changing status — some to zones of lesser restrictions, such as the Hailburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge district (“orange” to “yellow”) and some to zones of greater restrictions, such as Peterborough (“yellow” to “red”).

Windsor-essex has been in the “red-control” zone since Feb. 16.

As of next Monday — when the latest changes come into effect — there will be 15 regions in Ontario in the “red” zone or a more restrictive status.

Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Christine Elliott said the province is taking “a safe and cautious” approach, and reminded the public that a return to the response framework “is not a return to normal.”

Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health David Williams said new modelling data shows that measures are working, but COVID-19 variants of concern are continuing to spread, and the coming weeks will be critical to maintain progress.

“The best defence against the virus and all of its variants of concern remains continuing to stay at home, avoiding social gatherings, only travelling outside of your community for essential purposes, and limiting close contacts to your

Slowly, we are getting there ... If the restrictions are eased up too quickly, it may push us to `grey' lockdown.

household or those you live with,” Williams said.

Dr. Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health for the Windsor-essex region, was not surprised that our region will remain in “red,” given local epidemiological data.

“The numbers are fluctuating. We haven't landed in a very clear `orange' category at this time,” Ahmed said Friday.

Ahmed has said that a “rough marker” of when Windsor-essex will be ready for “orange” status is when the daily number of new local COVID-19 cases drops to 23 or lower, on average.

“I think that, slowly, we are getting there,” Ahmed said. “There is still a risk out there. If the restrictions are eased up too quickly, it may push us to `grey' lockdown — or somewhere else.”

Friday's update from the Windsor-essex County Health Unit reported an increase of 29 cases.

At least seven of those new cases were acquired in the community. Two are related to outbreaks, and 11 are close contacts of previously confirmed cases.

To date, there have been 13,095 cases of the novel coronavirus in Windsor-essex. As of Friday, 235 cases in the region are considered active, with 46 requiring hospitalization, and 10 under intensive care.

Three new deaths were added on Friday to the region's COVID-19 toll, bringing the total local death count to 392.

Ahmed said the three recently deceased were a man in his 60s, a man in his 70s, and a woman in her 80s — all of whom were living in the community.

“I want to express my deepest condolences to the families who lost their loved ones,” Ahmed said.

The Windsor-essex County Health Unit is currently monitoring 11 official outbreak situations, including one school location and two retirement homes.