Lambton residents can get a better idea about where people who tested positive for COVID-19 live.

Lambton Public Health now has a case map on line to show generally the area people who have tested positive for the virus call home.

The map is broken into five regions – including two rural regions, one of St. Clair, Dawn-Euphemia, Enniskillen, Brooke-Alvinston, Oil Springs and Petrolia, and the other in Warwick, Plympton-Wyoming and Lambton Shores.

Lambton County councillors asked for the enhanced reporting in September. Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley wanted cases reported in individual communities, but public health said that was too great of a risk that people with the virus would be identified particularly in small towns. Instead, the regions are created to have between 21,000 and 27,000 people in them.

The urban regions have had the most cases, according to the case map which rolled out Tuesday. Of the 365 cases in Lambton, 252 were in the three urban areas in Sarnia and Point Edward or about 69 per cent.

The case map comes with a couple of warnings. Public health officials say it shows where people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were living but not where they were exposed to the virus. It also bears a warning that the map cannot be used to draw conclusions about personal risk.

Public health officials remind people to continue to practice good public health safety measures by limit social interactions, practicing physical distancing, wearing a mask when you cannot or are required to do so, washing your hands frequently, and staying home if you are sick.