Province says the US border is an issue; MOH says its not

Lambton’s Medical Officer of Health wants to know why local businesses are being held back from opening when its neighbours are not.

The province announced yesterday 24 regions could begin reopening including more access to restaurants, hair salons and personal care services. Lambton is not among them and that has public officials questioning why.

Dr. Sudit Ranade says Lambton is meeting the markers the province has set for reopening so he’s “not sure holding us back is consistent…the numbers are such that we should be able to move along with our neighbours.

“If you’re going to say we cannot move forward with our neighbours here, you need to have an argument that the risk level here for the population is materially different from that of our neighbours and I’m not sure looking at our data that I could actually say that.”

Then, Ranade adds the economic “burden of public health measures falls unequally between jurisdictions” if the province isn’t consistent with the rules.

He pointed out that Grand Bend is partly in Lambton, which can’t open yet, and partly in Huron, which can.

Ministry of Health officials have told The Independent Lambton was left off the list because it is a border community and the province is concerned about COVID-19 transmission across the border.

Ranade says there have been “no cases related to travel across the border” in Lambton.

The medical officer of health will be questioning the province and hopes to convince officials Lambton is ready to reopen. Provincial officials say they are constantly reevaluating the situation.