Another jump in high risk COVID-19 cases in Windsor-Essex.
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit is reporting a 22.7 per cent increase in high risk cases the week of April 4 to April 10 compared to the previous week.
It's the fourth straight week the region has experienced an increase.
Acting medical officer of health Dr. Shanker Nesathurai is once again calling on the province to reintroduce a province-wide mask mandate for a limited time in indoor settings.
He's also advising local school boards to implement a mask policy.
"I think where we are in the pandemic today, school boards should institute a masking policy," he says. "It is one measure, it is one component of trying to attenuate the increasing burden of disease and that should be re-evaluated on a regular and periodic basis."
Dr. Nesathurai believes school boards have the discretion to implement a policy.
"Requiring young people to wear masks in school will reduce transmission in school and that's worth while but really, young people when we reduce transmission in school, they're breaking the chain of transmission and the ultimate beneficiaries of breaking the chain of transmission include people that are currently unvaccinated," says Dr. Nesathurai.
According to the health unit, the weekly high-risk case rate is 187.6 cases per 100,000 population.
The health unit says from March 10 to April 10, the most commonly reported symptoms among cases were cough, sore throat and nasal congestion.