WINDSOR, ONT. -- "I’m disappointed but not overly surprised," General Manager of Xanadu Health Club, Chris Scott reacts to the news that Windsor-Essex will remain in stage two while much of the province will enter stage three starting Friday.

"It’s very detrimental. We still have continued costs, expenses coming in regardless if we’re open or not," says Scott. 

"It’s upsetting but we understand," says May Hermiz, owner of Toast, who was looking forward to re-opening the indoor section of her restaurant. 

"It would definitely help our business to be indoors and be outdoors. It would be right back to normal just like we started," she adds. 

Leamington and Kingsville were the last areas in the province to enter stage two. Today’s announcement didn’t come as a surprise for Kingsville Mayor Nelson Santos, but he hopes moving forward, all of Windsor-Essex will enter stage three at the same time. 

"We believe Kingsville and Leamington should now be back into consideration as a whole group, identifying that our economies are interlinked," says Nelson. 

"We believe there’s an opportunity to kind of write that misstep and keep back in pace with the rest of our region."

Stage three will allow over 99 per cent of businesses in the local economy to re-open. Once it arrives, this stage will remain in place for the foreseeable future. With social gatherings limited to 100 outside and 50 indoors, businesses that rely on large congregations, like banquet halls, will have to completely change the nature of their industry. 

"It’s definitely going to put a damper on things. We usually average anywhere from 400 people in our small halls to over a thousand people indoors," says Mark Rossi, Ciociaro Club of Windsor president.

"It’s going to be a difficult remaining part of the year. We’re hoping that we can get out of it this year and bounce back in 2021."