Toronto ready to deploy more staff to help 3 homeless shelters dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks

Toronto Public Health has declared COVID-19 outbreaks at three homeless shelters, and the city says it will deploy more staff to the shelters if need be to curb virus spread.

The three shelters are Na-Me-Res on Vaughan Road, Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre's Etobicoke hotel shelter on Rexdale Boulevard and Covenant House North Building on Gerrard Street East, according to Toronto's online COVID-19 pandemic data dashboard.

As of Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., there were 14 COVID-19 cases at all in the city's shelter system: five cases at Na-Me-Res, seven at the Christie Ossington Neighbourhood Centre's Etobicoke hotel shelter and two at Covenant House North Building.

Homeless advocates say the city needs to step up its vaccination efforts among unhoused people by using incentives, conduct regular rapid testing, provide respiratory masks to all shelter residents, such as N95s, provide more isolation and recovery rooms for unhoused people and invest in proper air filtration.

The city, for its part, said in a statement this week it is keeping a very close eye on the shelter outbreaks because of the Omicron variant.

"The emergence of the Omicron variant has necessitated increased vigilance," the city said.

"We continue to monitor for changing public health advice and are prepared to strengthen existing protocols. We also have put contingencies in place that will allow us to deploy extra staff, if required. We are making every effort to ensure people experiencing homelessness continue to be prioritized and protected."

Extra staff would come from the city's Shelter Support and Housing Administration (SSHA) division and staff could be deployed to the shelters themselves, the city added.

"This is a fluid situation and SSHA continues to review its contingency planning based on emerging operational needs," the city said.

To manage the three outbreaks, the city said its staff are working closely with Toronto Public Health. Infection prevention and control measures for congregate settings are in place, it added.

Unhoused people are screened before they enter the shelter system and residents and staff are screened daily at individual sites, the city said. Shelter residents who need to be tested for COVID-19 are sent to assessment sites and then to an isolation site while they await test results. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is sent to a recovery site, the city added.

73% of shelter residents have had 1 vaccine dose

As of Dec. 17, the city said 73 per cent of shelter system residents, 12 years and older, have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 62 per cent have received two doses. Thirty-nine children currently in the shelter system, aged five to 11, have received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The city has administered 11,036 doses at 818 shelters and drop-in clinics as of Dec. 10.

Street nurse Cathy Crowe, a member of the Shelter and Housing Justice Network, said the shelter vaccination rate is lower than that of the overall city rate and the city needs to incentivize vaccines to increase the numbers of people vaccinated. 

"The vaccine plan seems to be kind of stagnant right now. They should be really boosting vaccination on site at shelters and offering incentives, a bonus, some kind of fun thing to give people a little bit of a Christmas treat while they get vaccinated," she said.

Crowe called for more recovery rooms for people infected with COVID-19. 

"We can't shelter people in place if they have COVID. It's impossible to monitor people's health. People who are homeless often have fragile, complicated, multiple other health issues," she said.

Crowe also called for more transparency about COVID-19 cases in shelters, saying advocates hear about case numbers long before the news is posted on the city's dashboard.

"People in shelters are not being informed when there's an outbreak. There's just poor communication and poor prevention. At this point, we have to deal with prevention. Honestly, that has to be masking and improving vaccination rates, including boosters."

Doug Johnson Hatlem, a street pastor, agreed and called on the city to make a commitment not to expand use of police powers against poor and racialized people.

Shelter operators encouraged to book mobile clinics

Toronto Public Health continues to monitor the number of doses administered to shelter residents, the city said. It said it is also encouraging homelessness service organizations to contact the public health unit to book mobile clinics. 

"Individuals experiencing homelessness continue to have access to COVID-19 vaccines in many ways including through pharmacies, city-run vaccination clinics, pop-up and mobile clinics, family doctors, and health and community partners. TPH and healthcare partners have also continued to attend shelters, drop-ins and encampment sites to provide vaccination opportunities to individuals experiencing homelessness as well," the city said.

"Those in this community tend to be transient, and are marginalized, vulnerable and are likely to have underlying health conditions. It is very important to get people vaccinated as quickly as possible."