The province is entering a third wave of COVID-19, according to the Ontario Hospital Association.
The association made the declaration after data from Ontario's COVID-19 Science Advisory Table showed an increase of variants of concern and intensive care unit numbers trending up throughout the province.
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"Strong adherence to public health measures is urgently needed to prevent overwhelming hospitals," said the Ontario Hospital Association in a Tweet.
Despite overall cases going down, Windsor-Essex hospitals are still feeling the pressure. On Friday, acute inpatient occupancy was sitting at about 90 per cent and ICU capacity was on the rise again.
Local hospitals are preparing for a potential third-wave to hit the region.
"We are diligent in the hospital around preparing. Unfortunately, this would be the third wave so we're experts in how to handle it and we have ease at pivoting as we need to depending on the number of patients being admitted to hospital," said Kennedy.
