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Chief Administrative Officer Onorio Colucci said it is out of “an abundance of caution” the city believes the additional steps are the best option as there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 locally as of Saturday.

“We are mindful of the disruption to people’s lives that were planning to use those facilities, but at the end of the day we have to be primarily concerned with the health and safety of our residents and our employees,” he said. “We believe that given the changes we’ve seen in the last 24 hours this is the way to go.”

One of the changes city officials mentioned is Health Canada upgrading the travel advisory to all foreign countries as a Level 3 risk.

“Being especially a border city, ensuring we do everything possible to be proactive to protect our residents is what we’re going to do,” said Ward 6 councillor Jo-Anne Gignac.

Windsor Fire and Rescue Chief Stephen Laforet said the city’s community control group is monitoring what’s happening both locally and globally.

“One of the things we were very mindful of was how this is spreading in other communities and we trained for this type of thing with the community control group — and our biggest concern was not to fall behind,” he said.

Mayor Drew Dilkens teleconferenced in Saturday evening from Jordan where they mayor has been on a family trip since March 6. He arrived back in Canada on Monday and will be self-isolated for 14 days.

Coun. Gignac will be acting mayor for the rest of March and part of April. The mayor said he has been and will continue to be active in city decisions and conversations remotely.

“We are taking proactive steps based on changes that have come in from upper levels of government,” said Dilkens. “And we are analyzing and assessing those changes against our operations and trying to do what we think is best for all of the residents of the City of Windsor.”

“Don’t panic, stay calm, be cautious, wash your hands, take all the precautionary measures and we will continue to advise as more information becomes available.”

The full statement from the City of Windsor along with the list of closures is available at: citywindsor.ca/Newsroom.

lcharlton@postmedia.com