Toronto reports COVID-19 outbreaks at 20 homeless shelters, over 300 cases, 1 recent death

Twenty homeless shelters in Toronto are trying to control COVID-19 outbreaks and more than 320 unhoused people are infected with the virus, according to data provided by the city.

One 60-year-old unhoused man who died in hospital on April 6tested positive for the virus after his death, sources told CBC Toronto. The death is linked toan active outbreak at the Homes First Lakeshore Shelter, located at 545 Lake Shore Boulevard W., according to the city's COVID-19 status of cases web page.

Advocates say the case numbers for unhoused people in Toronto are alarming. There are 328 COVID-19 cases with five people currently in hospital, as of Sunday at 2 p.m in ashelter system that serves about 5,800 people nightly.

"We feel the third wave has really showed itself quite viciously in the shelter system, beginning as far back as February," street nurse Cathy Crowe said this week.

"Bottom line is there is still concern that this virus is airborne, not just by droplets, but also it's aerosolized," Crowe added.

"I think we're seeing that it's not safe in congregate shelters. Really, it's time that the city looks at figuring out a new way to provide emergency shelter, such as one person per room. And that's what the hotel shelters are doing."

Crowe, also a visiting professor at Ryerson University, urged the city to improve infection prevention and control in all of its shelters, obtain more shelter hotels to move unhoused people out of crowded environments, conduct more random rapid testing and step up vaccination efforts among those experiencing homelessness.

She acknowledged that the city has acquired a second COVID-19 recovery centre in which unhoused people can isolate after testing positive for the virus.

"They just really need to dig in and provide protection for people. This is not going away very soon as we all know," she said.

The number of shelters in active outbreak has been hovering between 18 and 20 for weeks, Crowe said.

Crowe noted that some of the outbreaks are large and the number of cases reflects the spread of variants of concern. The Dixon Hall Bond Program currently has 61 cases, while Homes First Better Living Centre and Sojourn House Hotel Program have 49 cases each. She said Seaton House, the city's largest shelter for men, is fighting its fifth COVID-19 outbreak.

"They are so alarming.Oh my gosh, I've been tracking them every day and watching them increase," she said.

"Back last summer and early fall, we were in a much better place. And now, every single day, we are seeing the numbers increase and that's also showing us that vaccinations have not been thorough enough. It's very alarming."

Doug Johnson Hatlem, a street pastor for Sanctuary Ministries of Toronto, went further, saying the city needs to rethink its plans to clear encampments and to redirect that energyto controlling shelter outbreaks.

"I think the numbers have been alarming for some time now. The shelter system never got out of the second wave, really," Hatlem said on Monday.

"The city has continued to focus so much effort on encampment clearing and invisibilizinghomelessness and has not ever really prioritized having a COVID-zero plan for shelters."

Hatlem said it's clearly not wise to have people in large dormitory settings during apandemic and analysis is needed of how the shelter system is working or not working.

"I think there's been enough problems that we really need a genuinely independent outside epidemiological analysis of the shelter system andhow it would be most safe."

Dr. Vinita Dubey, the city's associate medical officer of health, said in an email on Monday the numbersare concerning.

"We would like to see case counts trending down overall in the community and in shelters, and for a higher percentage of this vulnerable population to be vaccinated going forward," Dubey said.

"Given the new variants that are circulating, and a need to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, we need to vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as possible. Vaccination will reduce the burden of illness and death from COVID-19."

Hospitals in Toronto, teams from Ontario Health, Local Health Integration Networks, family doctors and community-based health-care service providers began vaccinating unhoused people in the city's shelter system on March 1.

As of April 23,more than 1,850 vaccinations have been administered to unhoused people in shelters, according to data provided to Ontario Health. Dubey said the vaccination program is available until June 2021 to all unhoused people and shelter staff.

"Vaccination is voluntary for everyone, including shelter clients. The vaccination strategy for people experiencing homelessness provides opportunities for vaccination at multiple sites, including mobile clinics near and at shelters and drop-in centres, as well as at family doctors, pharmacies, health care providers and at local hospitals," Dubey said.

"The goal is to make vaccination as accessible as possible for this community who are often transient."

In the email, the city said it has opened itssecond recovery centre to provide space for unhoused people with COVID-19 to isolate.