Over 60,000 eligible adults remain unvaccinated in Windsor-Essex

Windsor, Ont. -

The Windsor-Essex Medical Officer of Health says there are upwards of 60,000 plus eligible adults in Windsor-Essex who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Wajid Ahmed is encouraging residents to get vaccinated, saying roughly 78 per cent of people 18 and over have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

“We should be really careful in how quickly we are opening things up.”

Ahmed says the health unit will take a wait and see approach before suggesting easing or enhancing pandemic restrictions. Ahmed says case counts are rising quickly and that many are ignoring current guidelines.

“People are not following any public health measures, like physical distancing, people don’t care. People are hugging each other, even people they don’t know.”

Friday marked the first day the province could have exited Ontario’s roadmap to reopening, three weeks after entering Step 3.

“Opening doesn’t necessarily mean that the risk has gone down or risk has decreased.”

During the health unit's Friday morning briefing, Ahmed said COVID-19 Delta variant cases had doubled since last week and that 1,300 vaccine doses were given out this week, compared to 2,100 doses last week.