WHEREAS to manage municipal services, municipalities require daily data on COVID-19 cases broken down by all acquisitions i.e. close contact, Agri-farm, Long Term Care Home/Retirement Home, Travel, hot zones and outbreaks (historical and current);
AND WHEREAS in reviewing other regions such as Durham, Hamilton, Peel, and Toronto, they provide an interactive website that allows the public to drill down to not only the municipality level but to the neighbourhoods;
AND WHEREAS our Health Unit uses static reporting on a weekly basis with a municipal breakdown using percentages of region and this provides no granularity to allow the public and municipalities to evaluate health risks, openings, potential hot zones, and effectiveness of measures put in place to help control the spread;
AND WHEREAS as a municipality, our public needs to see the municipality and neighbourhood data trending over time from the beginning of the pandemic to help show our progress but also to allow us to evaluate future outbreaks and react based on the raw data;
AND WHEREAS the health units are mandated to provide transparency and there should be no privacy concerns as can be seen using municipality and neighbourhood data in other regions;
AND WHEREAS as the Town approaches the move to Stage 3 and beyond, municipality and neighbourhood data will allow our Council and the public to be informed and make decisions on protecting health and supporting our way to a successful reopening of our region.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Administration send a letter to the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit Board of Directors and Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed, requesting more detailed information and data regarding the spread of COVID-19, with a copy of such letter to be sent to the MPPs of Kingsville and Leamington.