Niagara's Acting Medical Officer of Health thinks Niagara is on track to enter phase one of the reopening plan next week as scheduled.
But Doctor Mustafa Hirji says he would like to wait one more week instead of pushing for an earlier entry into reopening.
"Ultimately I think we do need to base our decisions on what the conditions on the ground are, what's actually happening with cases, what's happening with hospitalizations. So I don't think we can be completely stuck to a timeline we set in advance. But right now I think we are looking okay, that we should be able to take that first step to reopening next week and we can look forward to that."
He raises concerns with the Delta variant of COVID-19 and urges caution moving forward.
The region is meeting vaccination targets, but Hirji says they are noticing fewer young people signing up to get a vaccine when compared to their older counterparts.
Niagara currently has 495 active COVID-19 cases.