WINDSOR, ONT. -- The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit says there are 17 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths.
The total has reached 843, including 473 people who have recovered.The death toll remains at 63.
The health unit released the latest numbers on Friday morning.
In the new cases, eight were in migrant workers and nine people tested positive in the community.
Windsor-Essex medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed says the region has the fourth highest rate of COVID-19 in the province.
“We use the statistics to compare the number of cases based on the population size,” says Ahmed.
He adds this doesn’t account for people in different age groups. Ahmed says Windsor-Essex has an older population. Eighteen per cent of residents are over 65 years old.
Windsor-Essex has had 36 per cent of cases in long-term care homes. There are eight long-term care facilities still experiencing outbreaks.
Overall,15,019 people have been tested in Windsor-Essex, and there are 1,006 results pending.
Ahmed says they plan to start random testing in the community next week.
“You do not have to have any symptoms to be included in the random testing,” says Ahmed.
Health unit officials want to see the impact all the openings are having on the community.
“We want to make it truly random and we will not be disclosing (the location) on a particular day,” says Ahmed
It will either be a drive thru type setting or a mobile trailer. He added people will need to have their health card to be tested.
In Chatham-Kent, 142 people have tested positive for COVID-19.
