Some Windsor-Essex essential workers eligible for COVID-19 vaccines Thursday

A long list of essential workers is the latest group eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in Windsor-Essex.

As Theresa Marentette, CEO of the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) explained on Wednesday, a group of of front-line, essential workers will be able to book appointments through the health unit as of 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

"This does not include any workers that are mostly working from home or virtually," Marentette said at the health unit's daily briefing.

Those who will be eligible are in the first of two groups of essential workers, as outlined under vaccination priority criteria that was set provincially.

The eligible workers include:

• Elementary/secondary school staff (including educators, custodians and administrators) and bus drivers that transport students
• Workers responding to critical events (e.g., police, fire, children's aid, special constables, emergency management)
• Enforcement, inspection and compliance officers (e.g. bylaw and border inspectors officers)
• Child-care workers
• Licensed foster care workers
• Food manufacturing workers
• Agriculture and farm workers
• Funeral, crematorium and cemetery workers

Some groups on the list, such child-care workers, were previously eligible for vaccinations in Windsor-Essex.

Dr. Wajid Ahmed, medical officer of health, said it will be clear on the health unit's website which professions are eligible.

"Make sure that anyone who is going and registering, they are following, and the meet that criteria for, the first group of workers. It is absolutely critical," Ahmed said.

Those signing up for an appointment will need to provide an attestation that they meet the criteria, but no proof is required.

The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is ramping up this month in Ontario as well as locally, where health officials say there has been a large influx of vaccines.

Marentette said that over the next two weeks, the clinics will be able to vaccinate 20,000 residents per week.

The highest-capacity mass vaccination site, the St. Clair College Sportsplex, can see 1,000 people per day, while the smallest of the six clinics, the Moy Clinic, has a daily capacity of 220.

To date, 175,715 vaccine doses have been administered to Windsor-Essex residents, while 161,692 people have received one or more doses. That represents about 37 per cent of the population.

Moderna coming to some pharmacies

The province announced Wednesday it will be supplying up to 60 pharmacies with the vaccine made by Moderna this week.

The vaccine will be available to those 18 and older at some pharmacies located in hot spots in Windsor-Essex, along with Durham, Hamilton, Ottawa and York.

Previously, pharmacies offered the AstraZeneca vaccine, and those 40 and up were eligible.

Participating pharmacies will be identified online, the provincial government said in a media release.

40 new cases

Meanwhile, the region saw an increase of 40 new cases of COVID-19 in Windsor-Essex on Wednesday.

Of those cases, 18 are close contacts of confirmed cases, 20 were community acquired and two are under investigation.

There are a total of 384 cases active, nearly 40 per cent of which involve more contagious variants of concern.

Ten outbreaks are active across a variety of settings, the majority in workplaces.

There are eight workplace outbreaks, including: 

• One in Leamington's agriculture sector. 
• One in Tecumseh's construction sector.
• One in Lakeshore's food and beverage sector. 
• One in Windsor's food and beverage sector. 
• Three in Windsor's health-care and social assistance sector. 
• One in a retail setting in Windsor.

There are also outbreaks active at Southwest Detention Centre and Extendicare Southwood Lakes.

COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton

Lambton Public Health announced 18 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday. There are 84 COVID-19 active cases overall in Sarnia-Lambton, along with six ongoing outbreaks.

Chatham-Kent has 34 active COVID-19 cases. The municipality's public health unit reported five new cases on Wednesday. One outbreak is active.