The lockdown that isn't a lockdown has Windsor-Essex's top doctor looking at more restrictions

Windsor-Essex may be under lockdown, but it's not like the spring lockdown that allowed the region to flatten the curve, the health unit's top doctor says.

"Clearly, based on the data, what we are seeing is despite the restrictions it's not the same ... we are calling it a lockdown but it's not truly a lockdown," said Dr. Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health for the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit.

In the first wave of the pandemic, nearly everything was closed and there were few people on the roads, he said.

"Right now, with the current restrictions, there are still many, many people that are out. There are still many, many businesses that are open."

Ahmed said the health unit has ongoing discussions about what more they can do and where to focus their efforts on containing the spread of the virus.

243 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday

He expects to see more COVID-19 cases for at least another week. Then if people are following the lockdown guidelines that went into effect Monday, he's hoping we'll start to see those case counts go down.

"As a community we all have to take our responsibility," he said.

Ahmed made the comments at a press conference Friday morning where a record 243 new COVID-19 cases were announced, along with the region's 95th COVID-19-related death.

There are now more than 1,000 active cases in the region.

Twenty-eight separate outbreaks are active, including 10 at long-term care facilities and two at hospitals.