Hamilton shelters halt admissions amid COVID-19 outbreaks
Hamilton's largest shelter for men has halted admissions as it works to contain a coronavirus outbreak.
Other operators are also halting intake - including a hotel overflow program for women - or bracing to keep the Omicron variant-driven fifth wave of the pandemic at bay.
The precautions deliver another blow to shelters, which are running at capacity and struggling to maintain staffing levels as people on the street try to stay out of the cold.
And though case counts are relatively low, they could rise as this latest wave reaches its peak in coming days, warns a doctor who specializes in shelters.
We're going to have a rough month," Dr. Kerry Beal, lead physician with the Shelter Health Network, said Thursday.
Five staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Salvation Army's 82-bed men's shelter on York Boulevard, which has reached its capacity.
Our priority continues to be the health and safety of both our clients and staff as we adhere to all public health guidelines," the Salvation Army said in an emailed statement.
Early last year an outbreak at the Booth Centre reached 60 cases (47 residents and 13 staffers) before it started to recede.
But for much of the pandemic, routine surveillance testing of asymptomatic people combined with vaccination efforts led by the Shelter Health Network have helped keep cases to a minimum.
In recent days, however, the signs are worrying, notes Beal, whose team tests shelter residents, staff and their family members. The network also offers its services to other congregate settings.
We're getting positives among our surveillance swabs, which is more unusual, but a huge percentage of symptomatic swabs are positive."
Many have received at least two shots, Beal said. And they're still becoming positive in spite of that, but hopefully that protects them."
Limited isolation space and enough healthy staff to run them is another consideration, she added.
If we get too many positives in any given spot, we're not going to be able to send them to the isolation centre, so they're going to isolate in place, and that's not ideal."
The emergence of the Omicron variant - a driving factor in a record 59 reported outbreaks across the city - has thrown a curveball at shelters already struggling with staffing shortages and burnout.
We have to be able to shift our plans and come up with new responses almost on a daily basis," Katherine Kalinowski, chief operating officer with Good Shepherd Centres, said Wednesday evening.
An outbreak of five cases (four staff and one resident) has been declared at the social-service agency's Notre Dame House shelter for youth.
That has halted admissions, but staff are still taking calls from youths to help solve problems, Kalinowski said.
Good Shepherd also froze intake at its men's overflow shelter at the old Cathedral boys' school on Main Street East pending more direction from public health, she noted.
An overflow program Mission Services runs for women at the Four Points by Sheraton in east Hamilton has suspended admissions due to an outbreak that initially involved seven staff and one client, associate executive director Wendy Kennelly said.
Some couples are still staying at the hotel, but the city stopped accepting additional couples in December due to rising concerns over domestic violence.
Amid outbreaks, Mission Services has paused intake in other programs for women who are homeless or fleeing domestic violence.
But the agency and its partner YWCA continue to offer drop-in spaces for homeless women with stepped-up precautions such as isolation and swabbing.
Some women have chosen to stay away, while others declined to be swabbed, Kennelly said.
Meals are being provided at the door along with toiletries and harm-reduction supplies."
Teviah Moro is a reporter at The Spectator. tmoro@thespec.com