A COVID-19 outbreak that has hit some of the city's emergency shelter organizations is coming right before the winter months when they are most needed.
The Salvation Army's Barrie Bayside Mission, Elizabeth Fry Society Simcoe Muskoka and The Busby Centre are all currently under COVID-19 outbreak, the groups said in a joint news release issued late Monday night.
Collectively, the three organizations are providing shelter to 125 individuals each night, 26 of whom have received a positive COVID-19 test result since Nov 2.
The three organizations say they are working closely with the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit and the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) infection prevention and control (IPAC) team while also continuing to follow public health guidelines to minimize the spread of the virus to shelter users and staff.
Because the outbreak is affecting both the sheltered and unsheltered population of Barrie, the Busby Centre says its outreach team is working long hours each day to support those who are unsheltered to get tested and to divert individuals to shelters in other areas temporarily, and/or provide supplies to shelter where they are.
The groups also say they have partnered successfully with organizations in Orillia, Collingwood, York Region and Toronto to secure temporary shelter, for those who test negative, until the outbreak is confirmed over within the local sheltering system.
The Busby Centre and Elizabeth Fry Society Simcoe Muskoka are currently taking in unsheltered individuals who test positive with the virus. However, as a result of the outbreak, The Salvation Army Barrie Bayside Mission shelter is not accepting new intakes until the health unit officially declares the outbreak over.
At this time, the shelter organizations say staff who test positive with COVID-19 will remain home and isolated. Participants staying within shelter, who are required by public health to isolate, are provided a dedicated space to quarantine and receive on-site COVID-related assessment and support.
All three shelter locations say they are currently practising stringent cleaning and sanitization processes, assessed and approved by the Barrie hospital's IPAC team.
The Busby Centre and Elizabeth Fry Society have also been operating in partnership on the Hotel Shelter program since March 2020.
The Elizabeth Fry Society considers taking in women and gender-diverse individuals requiring shelter, who are over the age of 18.
The Busby Centre considers adults requiring emergency shelter for intake. The Busby Centre and Elizabeth Fry Society say they intend to urgently expand bed capacity to provide shelter space for 198 individuals per night.
People who utilize the shelter services flow into the program from a variety of sources including; intake call line(s), outreach, hospital and corrections discharge planning with institutions, police, community partners, etc.
