Warden McNamara welcomed the members of County Council, Administration and members of the public and delivered the following greeting:
Good evening,
The last few weeks have been a roller-coaster ride for all of us here in Essex County. They have brought us reasons for hope, but also reasons for concern and continued vigilance.
This afternoon, Ontario Premier Doug Ford declared a State of Emergency and issued a sweeping Stay-At-Home Order to help curb the spread of variants that are threatening to overwhelm our health care system.
These variants are more transmissible and deadlier than the COVID-19 we’ve been fighting for a year. They are wreaking havoc in other jurisdictions and, unfortunately, they are on the rise here in Windsor-Essex.
Dr. Ahmed warned this week things are moving in the wrong direction. I’m hopeful this Stay-At-Home order can help turn the tide. Please, limit your contacts and avoid gatherings and non-essential trips outside your home.
I know this is a bitter pill for small businesses in Windsor-Essex who are struggling to survive. These businesses are the backbone of our economy. Please continue supporting them the way they have always supported us.
And I know this lockdown hurts residents more than the others because people are tired and discouraged and because it felt for a time that the worst was behind us.
Hang in there. We’ve come too far and sacrificed too much to give up now – not when our mass vaccination campaign is about to pay big dividends.
More than 92,000 Windsor and Essex County residents have received one vaccine and the pace of vaccinations is poised to ramp up.
The vaccines and the variants are in a race and it is only our continued vigilance that will slow the spread and allow the vaccines to cross that finish line first.
Stay home, stay safe and save lives. And, please, get vaccinated as soon as you are eligible. For information and to book an appointment, visit www.WeVax.ca.
I would like to finish these remarks on a positive note and thank all of the Essex County residents who fought so hard to ensure the Province provided funding to advance the new hospital project.
There are competing interests around the cabinet table at Queen’s Park, but our residents clearly and consistently let the Premier know they deserved quality health care and a modern, state of the art hospital.
Our work is far from over, but we can’t wait to move forward with this transformative project. It will improve the quality of our lives and bolster our regional economy, attracting the best and brightest in the field of medicine and fueling residential and commercial growth.
We can accomplish great things when we work together and it is this same indomitable spirit that will allow us to endure this lockdown and win the fight against COVID-19.