22 New Cases Of COVID-19, 1 New Outbreak In Windsor Essex As Of Friday

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Last updated: Friday July 17th, 1:12pm

UPDATE: The Health Unit says the outbreak at Riverside Place has been rescinded as of Friday afternoon.

The Windsor Essex County Health Unit has confirmed 22 new cases of COVID-19 as of Friday, bringing the local total to 1,879. They say 1,283 people locally have recovered.

Cases increased from 1,857 on Thursday July 16th to 1,879 on Friday July 17th.

The Health Unit says 7 of the 22 cases are in the agri-farm sector, 10 of the cases are in the community, 1 case is travel-related and 4 cases are under investigation.

There have been no additional deaths due to COVID-19 as of Friday and the local death toll stands at 69.

The Health Unit says there is one new outbreak at a local long-term care home as of Friday.  Village of Aspen Lake on McHugh Street is under outbreak after one staff member tested positive. The outbreak at Riverside Place has now ended and Augustine Villas remain under outbreak.

Six workplaces are under outbreak as of Friday. One manufacturing facility and one agri-farm in Leamington are under outbreak, and four agri-farms in Kingsville are under outbreak.

A workplace outbreak is declared when two or more employees test positive for COVID-19 within a reasonable timeline to suspect transmission in the workplace, according to the Health Unit.

Local Public Health Lab

Dr. Wajid Ahmed, Medical Officer of Health says conversations have been ongoing for the opening a public health laboratory in the Windsor Essex region.

“I have been advocating for that with the Ministry [of Health] behind the scenes as well, with one particular lab that has shown interest and submitted a proposal to the ministry,” he said. “So from the public health side we have been working on that.”

Dr. Ahmed says a working group has been formed to advocate for a local public health lab and a proposal by the hospital has also been put forward.

“So hoping that all of us working together will put together some good proposals that we can put forward to the ministry,” he said. “Hopefully the ministry identifies the challenges and the need in our community, especially with COVID.”

Weekly Epidemiological Summary

Dr. Ahmed says Windsor-Essex’s case counts have stabilized to around 12 cases per day on average in the last week with the majority of cases attributed to the agri-farm sector; the primary source of exposure is through close contact with confirmed cases with an increase in recent cases coming from Windsor; hospitalizations and ICU visits have decreased dramatically and there’s capacity in the system for increased need; and the current rate of transmission (R0) is 0.55 indicating a decrease in transmission in Windsor-Essex.

Confirmed cases by reported date (agri-farm vs non-agri-farm)

Regional and provincial case rates per 100,000 population.

Distribution of cases by municipality since the start of the pandemic.

Distribution of cases by municipality in the last 30 days.

Distribution of cases by municipality in the past week.

Distribution of cases by occupation in the last week.

Exposure history by reported date (travel, close contact, community transmission).

Hospitalizations including intensive care since May 1st, 2020.