WECHU lifting additional restrictions on restaurants, bars and weddings

Windsor, Ont. -

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is lifting additional restrictions on bars, restaurants, funerals and weddings.

WECHU announced Monday morning it will be withdrawing the old letter of instruction and releasing a new letter of instruction.

The new Letter of Instruction can be found on the WECHU’s website along with additional resources for businesses and residents.

What does this mean?

The region is going to revert back to provincial direction.

This means establishments can stay open until 2 a.m. again and indoor dancing is allowed.For the past four weeks, bars and restaurants in Windsor-Essex had to close at midnight.

Weddings and funerals in Windsor-Essex can now go back to 25 per cent capacity, up to 250 people maximum.

When does it take effect?

Health unit CEO Nicole Dupuis says it is effective immediately, Monday, Oct. 4.

She said WECHU specifically looked at those sectors and they have seen a considerable drop in those settings.

The letter was issued on Sept. 3 by former local medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed, in response to an increase in cases linked to restaurants/bars and weddings.The so-called 12 a.m. "curfew" took effect on Sept. 7. Capacity at weddings and funerals was limited to 100 people as of Sept. 20.

Why was a new letter of instruction issued?

The decision to rescind the letter of instruction issued was based on a number of factors including the introduction of the provincial proof of vaccination system according to acting medical officer of health, Dr. Shanker Nesathurai.

“The decision to modify public health guidance is always carefully considered relative to a number of factors,” he says. “The number of cases is a key consideration, but the measures put in place by other levels of government, the level of protection currently provided to our community in terms of vaccine coverage, and the settings and sources of acquisition amongst our cases all have an influence on the level of risk in the community.”

Dupuis says putting faith in local businesses to follow the local and provincial guidance and holding those who do not accountable, is at the centre of the updated strategy.

“With a month of information collected following the implementation of the previous letter, we have reached a point where we can take a targeted enforcement approach with specific businesses who refuse to follow rules, while cautiously easing the restrictions on the entire sector. By limiting access to only those that are fully vaccinated and maintaining public health measures the risk of spread of COVID-19 is significantly lower,” says Dupuis.