Despite provincial hints that mask mandates may be dropped, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is not ready to completely follow suit.
Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore announced last week that as long as there is no significant rise in COVID-19 case rates or hospitalizations, people can start going maskless at the end of March.
While the case rate in Windsor-Essex is stable and the number of hospitalized patients has dropped, Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Shanker Nesathurai said Monday he won't agree to a total dropping of the masks.
"Right now in Windsor-Essex, the level of disease activity is about the same as it was a week ago," said Nesathurai. "In talking to our epidemiologists, we will continue to follow that."
While the stability of case counts has been encouraging a week after capacity limits were lifted in most public places, Nesathurai said care must still be taken to protect those most vulnerable.
"There are some areas we are concerned about, such as hospitals and health care institutions," said Nesathurai. "Generically, I would expect that we would be more cautious about where masking is required in places where there might be more vulnerable populations."
When asked about Erie Shores Healthcare CEO Kristin Kennedy's pleas for civility after reporting that her staff have faced hostility for being asked to continue to mask up, Nesathurai reiterated that a place like a hospital is entitled to ask people to take precautions regardless of what the province has indicated.
The health unit reported one death from COVID-19 from the weekend, a man in his 70s. There was also a total of 207 new cases in high-risk settings.
Hospitalizations in Windsor-Essex are still on the decline, with a total of 27 reported as of 2:00 p.m. Monday. Sixteen cases are at Windsor Regional Hospital, with nine of them primarily treated for COVID-19. Two people are in intensive care.
At Erie Shores Healthcare, four patients were admitted, with two having the virus as the main concern. Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare was caring for seven COVID-19 patients.
