Starting Friday, all commercial establishments in Windsor Essex will be required to have a face-covering policy in place.
The Windsor Essex County Health Unit issued the order under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. The policy prohibits anyone who is not wearing a face-covering from entering a business. Exceptions will be made for medical reasons or for children under the age of two. The onus will be on the commercial establishment to enforce, however, the health unit said it does not expect anyone to provide medical documentation on any conditions.
"The hope is that everyone will take it very responsibly and do their part and wear the mask to these establishments. Recognizing that there will be people who will have some kind of medical condition or reason for not wearing the mask, we don't want to exclude those people. It would be permitted under their policy that if a person cannot wear a mask for any medical reason they will not be turned away," said Dr. Wajid Ahmed, Medical Officer of Health for Windsor Essex.
Dr. Ahmed said under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, the health unit could issue fines if necessary but he is hopeful it will not come to that.
"This is a requirement for the establishments to have these policies and we will hope that everything will be safe and we won't get into a situation where we have to issue fines," said Dr. Ahmed.
Under the order issued by the health unit, a commercial establishment is defined as any business open to the public that delivers goods and services. That includes Retail stores convenience stores, malls/plazas, restaurants, personal service settings, grocery stores and bakeries, gas stations, farmer’s markets mechanic shops and car dealerships.
The Windsor Essex County Health Unit reported four new cases of COVID-19 in the community on Wednesday. One is linked to the agri-farm sector, two are close contacts of a confirmed case, and one is still under investigation.
