KITCHENER -- Some people in rural communities with lower COVID-19 case counts say they're starting to feel frustrated that they have to follow the same restrictions as areas with higher case numbers.

The concern was raised at a Board of Health meeting on Tuesday morning.

North Dumfries Mayor Sue Foxton said she's getting a lot of questions from people in Ayr, where there are currently five or fewer cases according to the region's COVID-19 map.

Foxton said there's people in the area who feel they don't need to follow the rules, because they don't think COVID-19 is in their community.

However, Region of Waterloo Public Health officials said people need to remember not to be complacent, since the situation can change quickly.

"The assumption in my community is that we have no problem with COVID, so people are saying we don't count, so we can do basically what we want." Foxton said. "I'm having more and more problems with this."

She said she's trying to convince people they need to keep following guidelines.

"The virus doesn't really discriminate between municipalities," Medical Officer of Health Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang said. "It will go wherever there is a chance for it to spread."

"Assume the threat exists everywhere, because it does," Regional Chair Karen Redman said. "Very few people live, work and never go outside of their corner of the region.

Mayor of Wellesley Township Joe Nowak said that community can be a cautionary tale.

"From the onset of the dashboard, we've been white throughout," he said. "In the last two weeks, that has changed. The northern part of Wellesley Township is showing eight cases. It seems every time I look they're adding one more to it, so things can change in a heartbeat."

Some people on the streets in Ayr said they do think the restrictions are reasonable.

Foxton said one of the challenges is that the region's COVID-19 case map only shows that there are five or fewer cases in a community, and some people may interpret that as no cases when there might be a few.

The data can't be more specific due to privacy concerns.