Isolation site for homeless a health risk, residents say
Some residents in Lowertown are upset that an isolation centre for homeless people with COVID -19 has been set up at Le Patro d'Ottawa community centre on Cobourg Street, saying it presents a health and safety risk.
The centre is close to three schools in a densely populated area, say 17 residents in a letter to officials at the city, Ottawa Public Health, the province and shelter operator Ottawa Inner City Health.
The city did not consult the community or say how it would mitigate risk, the letter said. The residents said they have seen multiple people leaving and re-entering the isolation centre after taking a walk around the neighbourhood, which “in any other circumstances, would be deemed unacceptable and worthy of a harsh monetary fine.”
“As you are well aware having COVID-19 positive individuals strolling around the neighbourhood is a major health and safety risk to the community, and will enhance the spread of this highly contagious and deadly disease.”
Resident Bruce Kelly said it's not a case of “not in my backyard” syndrome.
He says he recognizes that the root problem is homelessness, and that everyone deserves help if they need to isolate.
But the location is not appropriate, he said. Le Patro adjoins a playground and park, and is within a few hundred metres of St. Anne and York Street public schools, and the De La Salle high school.
Kelly and his wife called police and bylaw officers after seeing unmasked people go in and out of an outdoor fenced-in area at the back of the Le Patro that was used by smokers. Another evening, they saw a man approach the smoking area, have a conversation with someone inside the fence, then hand him a bag over the fence and walk away, he said.
“This is just lunacy.”
That area appears to be closed to self-isolating smokers now, Kelly said. On Monday, people were using a small fenced-in area that had been created near the entrance of the isolation centre.
Kelly wonders why homeless people with COVID -19 are not put up in a hotel. “I don't think opening 100 beds in a gym is even a humane approach.”
The isolation centre at Le Patro was set up after outbreaks in the city's shelters created an emergency situation, said Wendy Muckle, executive director of Ottawa Inner City Health.
An isolation centre at the Routhier community centre on Guigues Avenue that had been operating for 10 months couldn't handle the surge, she said. The isolation centre at Le Patro has 60 or 70 residents in a gymnasium and meeting rooms, Muckle said.
She said she understands the concerns raised by neighbours, but there was no time for extensive planning or community consultations. “Literally, it was like our hair was on fire. We picked up and left a burning building.”
She said some staff at the centre have been harassed by neighbours yelling at them.
“This narrative that people (in isolation) are coming and going and wandering around in the community is just not true.”
People in isolation are not incarcerated and are free to leave, she said.
“It's a voluntary self-isolation unit. It's there to encourage people who are homeless and are positive to isolate, in the same way as we would encourage any other citizen. People have the same rights. They don't lose their rights as a citizen, or as a human being, because they are homeless.”
Staff check every hour, and if a resident has left, their absence is reported to Ottawa Public Health, Muckle said.
The best way nearby residents can protect themselves is to wear a mask and stay two metres away from anyone outside their household, she said.
“There seems to be this thought that somehow clouds of COVID are leaving the isolation centre and infecting the neighbourhood. That's just not how the virus is transmitted.”
Resident Steve Mongrain is a volunteer who maintains the two ice rinks at Jules Morin Park adjacent to Le Patro.
He suggests the city erect signs in the park warning there is a COVID -19 isolation centre a few steps away. He said he was upset about “the lack of transparency and information for the community, the inappropriate location given the schools and the playground and the park, and the lack of means to make sure that the COVID-19 orders are enforced.”
The city councillor for the area, Mathieu Fleury, said he would like the centre relocated. A more isolated and “self-contained” location such as a University of Ottawa building, the Shaw Centre or the EY Centre would be better, he said.
Some services in Le Patro were asked to vacate, said Fleury, including a private Catholic school and De La Salle high school, which had been renting space for classrooms.
Fleury said city officials have authority to authorize the isolation centre under emergency powers.
The city has agreed to set up a phone line for school officials or residents to call if they have concerns, and security guards are now on site at the isolation centre, he said.