WINDSOR, ONT. -- After experiencing a weekend of flu-like symptoms, a candidate in Windsor’s Ward 7 byelection says he is feeling better and has been cleared from self-isolation.
Igor Dzaic says he was out door-knocking in east Windsor on Friday and felt “oddly fatigued” around 7 p.m. and went home. When he woke up the next morning, Dzaic says he had the body sweats and shakes, felt dizzy, drowsy and was coughing.
“I felt like I got hit by a bus,” he says, adding his condition worsened throughout the day.
He made the post to Facebook on Saturday morning, advising the public of how ill he felt. Dzaic also feels the byelection should “be postponed for everyone’s safety” should he test positive for COVID-19.
READ MORE: Catch up on the latest news concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dzaic tells CTV Windsor he attended Windsor Regional Hospital on Saturday, and was tested. He says doctors told him to self-isolate for 48 hours.
“They said go home, sit in your room and don’t come out for two days,” Dzaic says, actions he has since taken. “If I had it, they would have called me already.”
Sensing he’s in the clear, Dzaic says doctors aren’t suggesting a 14-day period of self-isolation.
“I’ve seen others are advised to do 14 days. When they looked at me, they saw that I was sick,” he says. “But because I didn’t have that dry cough that a lot of people with COVID-19 have, they determined I didn’t have it, however I did have a bad case of the flu.”
Since Dzaic says he’s been cleared, he no longer feels like delaying the byelection, scheduled for April 27, is necessary; however, he does intend to cancel plans to canvas for the foreseeable future.
“They say social distancing is a good idea and I will be doing that,” he says. “I assume the other candidates will be doing that as well to protect their own health, the health of their families and everyone else’s health as well.”
Howard Weeks, who is also running in Ward 7, indicates he will not be asking residents to speak with him from any distance, nor will he leave literature in their mailboxes.
“If this hurts my election chances, so be it,” Weeks says in a press release, indicating researchers believe the coronavirus can remain virulent for extended periods, “up to 24 hours on cardboard to up to two or three days on plastic and stainless steel,” he says.
Another candidate, Greg Lemay, noted on Facebook that over the weekend, he was door-knocking, but did not shake any hands and stayed about six-feet back while using lots of hand sanitizer.
Farah El-Hajj, who entered the race before nominations closed March 13, cancelled a weekend campaign kick-off and fundraising event amid coronavirus concerns.
“As much as we’d love to get together with everyone and kick things off, it’s clear that moving forward with the event as planned would be irresponsible given the current circumstances,” El-Hajj says in a Facebook post.
El-Hajj indicates she will be available by phone, email or Skype.
Dzaic says all is not lost for the crowded field of candidates vying to replace Irek Kusmierczyk ‘s vacant Ward 7 seat on Windsor’s city council.
“We can still canvass from our homes, from our phones, computers, but for the next few days I will not be going door to door, as a simple precaution, of course,” says Dzaic.
Also running in the byelection are Michelle Gajewski, Jeewen Gill, Barb Holland, Ernie Lamont, Michael Malott, Angelo Marignani, Thérèse Papineau and Albert Saba.
