Self-isolation difficult for some in tent encampment as COVID-19 outbreak in Memorial Park continues

Jeffrey Ense has lived in Sudbury's Memorial Park tent encampment for seven months, and had to make a difficult decision when he was diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this year.

Although he;s fully vaccinated, he found himself in the middle of an outbreak that has affected people living in the park since Sept. 27. 

After undergoing COVID-19 testing, he said some outreach workers approached him to tell him of the positive result, and asked if he would be willing to relocate to a nearby motel to self-isolate.

"I didn't want to spread it and obviously make it worse.," said Ense, who is originally from M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island, but now considers Sudbury home. "So I thought it was in my best interests if I did the 14-day quarantine."

The outreach workers brought him to a Sudbury motel, reserved by the City of Sudbury, where other individuals from the park stay to self-quarantine.

He had his own room and meals were provided to him, but Ense said he did not have anything to help with his drug withdrawal.

"I have addiction problems and obviously that was a concern for me," he said. "But it was my choice (to quarantine) and something I was ready to do."

Ense said his COVID-19 symptoms were mild, like a cold, but he had to deal with his drug withdrawal "cold turkey."

Because he was not in a methadone treatment program, he did not have access to the medication often used to alleviate the effects of withdrawal.

"It's tough," he said.

"It's a lot of mental strain, physical, you know? But I find doing it alone is much better than having to put it on to others. Nobody put me in that position. I made the choice."

While Ense said he made it through, he knew of many others were weren't able to tough it out and left quarantine early.

Ense said he ended up staying at the hotel for three weeks because he did not feel safe returning to the tent encampment earlier.

Because the outbreak is still active in the park, he has been doing his best to protect himself.

"I'm just trying to watch out for my best interests and the others around me, right? So I'll just do what it takes to keep myself safe and in others around me and prevent the spreading."

Daily health unit presence

Holly Highland, a public health nurse with Public Health Sudbury and Districts, said as of Monday, there had been 51 confirmed COVID-19 cases among people living in the park with 16 active cases on that day.

The health unit has been involved to promote masking, distancing, isolation, do weekly testing, and provide vaccinations to people living in the tent encampment.

"It is definitely a challenge, and it can take a little bit longer to minimize the spread," Highland said.

"That's why we're doing the regular testing. And you know, it's important to get the testing done regularly so we can pick up all these cases and try to minimize the spread."

Jennifer Clement, executive director of the Sudbury District Nurse Practitioner Clinics, said the city and community partners have done everything possible to help people from the tent encampment isolate themselves safely.

She said nurse practitioners assess each person as they go into self-isolation to arrange for community partners to fill such needs as daily meals.

Clement said the nurse practitioners have prescribed medications such as insulin and arrange prescriptions so people don't have to leave isolation.

If an individual is addicted to illicit drugs, she can refer them to a team of addictions specialists in the community who can support individuals in self-isolation. 

"So that's the nice thing with the addictions specialist, they're able to put them on a plan," Clement said. 

"Rather than going to the Northwood clinic, it's working with them while they're in the isolation centre to come up with a plan to help there."

But Evie Ali, the operations manager with the Go-Give Project, an outreach group that works with vulnerable, mostly unhoused people in Sudbury, said she has witnessed individuals in the camp self-isolate without outside support.

"We had one individual who did (self-isolate on his own)," she said.

"He stayed in his tent for almost three weeks. You know, just talking to us from inside the tent, like asking people, please do not come in. We were very concerned. But again, just not a great situation for anybody, well or not well."

CBC News asked the health unit, the city and the Sudbury District Nurse Practitioner Clinics how many individuals from the tent encampment who tested positive for COVID-19 were able to self-isolate for the full mandatory period of time.

None of the organizations responded with that information.