WINDSOR, ONT. -- The medical officer of health for Windsor-Essex said he doesn’t expect students to return to in-person learning anytime soon.
Dr. Wajid Ahmed said Friday that the region is still under provincial orders to keep remote learning and he doesn’t have the authority to change it, even if he wanted to.
"Some of these decisions if it happens from the province, they'll have to consider everything that is happening inside the province and because it's a provincial order, it's not even our local concern at this time to make some of these decisions," said Ahmed.
When Premier Doug Ford made the announcement during spring break on April 12, he didn’t indicate a return date.
Windsor-Essex students moved to online learning after the break on April 19. Ahmed said parents and students will have to wait to see what the province decides.
"Looking at what the provincial picture looks like, I am not confident that the province will make the call to go back to the classes next week or any time soon," said Ahmed.
Ahmed added he is looking at the local at provincial data, but he hasn't received any specific information from the government.
"Some early indication that it is stabilizing but still it's too high, not only just for our region but for the rest of the province," said Ahmed.
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit added 62 new cases on Friday.
The case rate in the region is 92.7/100,000 for the full week and 95.9 for the past seven days. The per cent positivity is 6.6 per cent for the full week, compared to 5.5 the previous week. It is the 12th highest positivity rate in the province.
