The Medical Officer of Health for Windsor-Essex says he will be taking part in Wednesday's special board meeting for trustees with Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB).
Dr. Wajid Ahmed says he has accepted an invitation from the board and will be available to answer questions, adding the community is in this together but understands its a difficult decision for parents.
"Right now we are just going with the best available evidence that we have," says Dr. Ahmed. "We are trying to mitigate any potential impacts of anything we can foresee as best as possible given the resources, given the challenges. There is nothing that we can say this is the ideal situation that we have no risks. I would never say that there is no risk, there is always this risk."
Dr. Ahmed says the health unit continues to work with area school boards.
"We have done that many times with other partners so we like to ensure that we are engaged in this discussion which is very important for our community, for our children so we will definitely be there, I'll be there," he says adding, the health unit has heard from some concerned parents about sending their children back to school.
"We are trying to group all these questions together to provide the best advice to our team but recognizing that a lot of these questions are linked with stress anxiety which is understandable as we continue to say there is no risk-free option," says Dr. Ahmed. "There's a decision each one of us has to make."
Meanwhile, the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit reported one additional case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, considered community spread.
There are now a total of 2,450 cases in Windsor-Essex with 176 of those considered active.
— With files from AM800's Kristylee Varley