Almost all of Niagara's mayors support the idea of moving the region to the Red tier of the province's colour-coded COVID-19 restriction system.
We expect to learn if the region will move from the strictest level of the system, Grey, into one of the lower tiers tomorrow.
In a joint letter, 11 of Niagara's 12 mayors state they believe Niagara is ready to move to the Red level as the vaccination of long-term and high-risk retirement home residents continues.
However, the second wave of COVID-19 has proved to be more deadly than the first one: Niagara Region Public Health reports 369 deaths throughout the course of the pandemic.
The mayors write a balanced approach is needed to protect the health of community members while reopening the economy.
The only mayor who did not sign the letter is Niagara-On-The-Lake Lord Mayor Betty Disero.
After that discussion, six possible variant cases were identified in the region, but conclusive lab testing has not yet been completed.