Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens believes waiting a while longer to move to Stage 2 in the economic recovery due to COVID-19, may be best for the city.
On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced several areas of the province are moving to the next stage which means more businesses can reopen, but it does not include Windsor-Essex.
Speaking on AM800's the Morning Drive, Mayor Dilkens says he would have loved to move onto the next stage, but the stats don't support it, especially with mass testing of migrant workers getting underway.
"The testing is starting for the migrant workers at all the farms so I would say there is a possibility that the numbers will get worse before they get better as those test results come in," says Dilkens.
The decision by the province is based on local case counts, deaths and outbreaks and Dilkens points out that includes the migrant population, which has seen a spike recently.
Plus, Windsor is a border city with essential workers moving back and forth.
"We have undertaken a great amount of effort to get where we are today, if it means another re-evaluation on Monday of next week and get there in a week's time and it puts us in a better position of reducing the risk of going backwards and undoing all the hard work we have taken since March, then it is probably worth it," says Dilkens.
"I support the province's decision because the last thing I want to do is rush it, have a widespread outbreak and everything has to close again, that would be very difficult for our community,” he says. “I'm willing to wait another week and get the results back from the migrant worker population.”
The Migrant Worker Assessment Centre and Clinic opens Tuesday in Leamington to focus on testing that population.
The province said it will re-evaluate the situation each Monday, and if a community is given the green light, it will be allowed to reopen the following Friday.