Vaccine registration opening for people aged 75+ on Tuesday: WECHU

Another group will soon be eligible for COVID-19 vaccines in Windsor-Essex people who are 75 and older.

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit says registration for people in that age group will open on Tuesday, when the health unit switches to a different online booking system.

On Monday, a new vaccination siteopened up for those who are 80 and older. It'sat Windsor Hall, the former Windsor Star building on Ferry Street in downtown Windsor, now part of the university. The St. Clair College Sportsplex, which was previously open for vaccinations for other priority groups, isoffering shots for the 80-plus population too.

Theresa Marentette, CEO of WECHU, said that people receiving vaccines will be eligible to ride Transit Windsor to their clinicfor free under a new program.

"People using this service will be required to identify that they're travelling to or returningfrom a vaccination site to receive this free service," she said at the health unit's daily briefing.

The health unit expects to be finished with vaccinating everyone pre-registeredin the 80-plus populationby the end of the week.

In total, thereare fourclinicsoffering vaccinations by appointment:three in Windsor and one in Leamington. The health unit plans to open a fifth location a week from today at the Libro Centre in Amherstburg.

As well, the region is participating in a pharmacy pilot project for adults who are 60 and older.

The health unit is using its own registration system rather than the province's vaccination booking portal. Local online registration has been closed since Saturdaywhile the health unittransitionsto a new system.

The new system allows those booking appointments to pick their appointment slot and site.

Marentette said that the region will be using the local booking system for at least the next month.

For other regions in Ontariousing the provincial vaccine system, registration is available for those 75 and older as of Monday.

So far, more than 52,000 people in Windsor-Essex or around 13 per cent of the population have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Onthe weekend, there were 61 new cases of COVID-19 reported in the region, and onMonday, the health Unit announced 11 new cases.

Of these cases, fourcases are close contacts of confirmed cases, one isrelated to anoutbreak, two were community acquired, and fourare under investigation.

There were no new COVID-19 deaths announced Mondayand overall 401 residents of Windsor-Essex have died from the illness.

Twenty-five people are in hospital, including fivein ICU.

There are currently 13active outbreaks spread across sectors.

Five community settings are in outbreak:

• The Welcome Centre.
• The Salvation Army.
• The Downtown Mission.
• Victoria Manor.
• South West Detention Centre.

Six workplaces are in outbreak:

• One in Kingsville's agriculture sector
• One in Essex's manufacturing sector.
• One in Tecumseh's manufacturing sector.
• One in Windsor's public administrationsector.
• One in Windsor's retailsector.
• One in Windsor's repair and maintenance sector.

An outbreak isactive at one long-term care orretirement facility, Leamington Mennonite Home, with one staff case.

COVID-19 in Chatham-Kent, Sarnia-Lambton

Sarnia-Lambton saw an increase of 40new cases on Monday. There are now more than 243in the region.

In Chatham-Kent, which entered the red level of COVID-19 restrictions on Monday, there were 38 new cases. The active case count stands at 103.