WINDSOR, ONT. -- Windsorites, laid off or getting fewer shifts, are eager to get back to work on Tuesday morning.

Windsor-Essex will move into the red category of the province’s reopening framework as of 12:01am Tuesday.

Under the red level of Ontario’s COVID-19 response framework, indoor dining, gyms and salons are able to reopen with restrictions and capacity limits.

Which means personal trainer, James Zimmerman can go back to working inside Refine Fitness in Windsor, Ont.

Zimmerman transitioned to virtual training sessions in the second lockdown after being out of work, completely in the first lock down last spring.

“I’m trying to make the best of a situation,” he says.

Zimmerman says he was able to save some money in the first lockdown, which he used to stay on top of his finances in the second one these past 10 weeks.

While excited to see his clients, in-person, in the gym, Zimmerman admits it is bittersweet.

“The reality is I’m not vaccinated yet and neither are most of the people, if not al of the people i interact with on a daily basis,” he says.

Just up the street, at the Twisted Apron, server Sylvia Bradfield was on the sidewalk shovelling snow to clear the way for customers to come in for breakfast first thing Tuesday morning.

“Gotta do what we gotta do,” she says. “We want to be open.”

Bradfield says the past year has been a struggle with no money coming in so she’s hoping this return to dining-in is the last time it will be restricted.

“I know I’m safe,” she says. “Its just its hard when you have to police everybody. Put your mask on, one person in the bathroom at a time, and its like if everybody would just do their part we’ll be okay.”

General Manager Lisa Cusmanic says she’s basically been out of work for a year, and off the job, completely since Boxing Day.

“Its absolutely been unnerving, not knowing what you’re doing from one week to the next.”

Cusmanic is looking forward to welcoming in 10 diners at a time, total, in their sprawling restaurant on Wyandotte St East.

“Everyone that works in this industry is nervous,” she says. “We want to be busy and we want to be safe, we have families we have to go home to.”