Tuesday marks the end of most COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario, including at City of Windsor facilities.
The province is lifting its proof of vaccination requirements for establishments such as restaurants, bars, nightclubs, gyms and movie theatres, as well as putting a halt to its remaining capacity limits in Ontario.
Windsor city council voted Monday to rescind the vaccine passport requirement that was first implemented back in September.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Mayor Drew Dilkens encouraged people to visit some spots they maybe haven't in a while.
"It's going to be 50°F today, go out and enjoy the day. Come to one of our facilities, the vaccine passport has been removed, City Council removed our bylaw yesterday. The health unit rescinded their Letter of Instruction that applied to all sport and recreation facilities across Essex County to be compliant with the provincial order that's currently in place," he said.
Dilkens says they're still requiring masks and physical distancing in facilities, but the one place that won't be back to normal right away will be city pools.
"The public's going to have bare with us a little bit on the aquatic side because these training programs for high school and university students haven't been offered for two years. So now we have a lack of lifeguards to be able to open the facilities, and the team is working really hard to try and get the courses required offered."
He says they're working hard to get the interested people trained and certified to be lifeguards to deal with those issues.
The easing of provincial restrictions follows Monday's change for travel when it comes to testing, from a PCR to a rapid antigen test.
Dilkens says he's still hasn't received any word from the federal government on further changes, because as far as he's concerned this doesn't really change anything for border cities.
"For those who have to pay and can't get a test and need to go over, certainly it is cheaper to get a rapid antigen test if you can find it," he continued. "Don't forget there's a bit of a shortage on these rapid tests as well, so there really isn't a material change and it needs to change, it really does."
Masking requirements remain in place for now, but provincial officials say that they're looking potentially at late March/early April for those to go away as well.