Karen Riddell is breathing a sigh of relief that Windsor-Essex remains in Stage 2 of the province's COVID-19 reopening framework.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, the Vice President of Critical Care at Windsor Regional Hospital says she's not surprised that this region is being held back.
Riddell says when you look at provincial data, Windsor-Essex is consistently in the top five of new cases.
"When you're looking at like Toronto and Peel and if you look at their populations compared to Windsor-Essex, we're really high with regard to prevalence of new cases,” she says
Riddell believes we need to have a much better handle on reducing community spread of the virus.
"While we're at Stage 2, I mean if we can't control it right now then what's that going to look like if we open things up even more,” she adds.
According to Riddell, all we need to do look south of the border to see what happens when you do too much too quickly.
"There is a lot of public health direction coming from their medical experts but people are not following it,” she says. “There’s no national plan to mandate those public health measures so I think that's where they're really slipping."
As it was announced on Monday, Windsor-Essex along with Toronto and Peel will remain in Stage 2 on the province's recovery plan.