Transition House continues to host warming room despite outbreak
By Cecilia Nasmith
A COVID-19 outbreak at Transition House will not prevent the site from serving as an overnight warming room, Executive Director Anne Newman said.
A press release from the shelter announced that it is working with Northumberland County and the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit to manage the outbreak, following confirmation of positive cases among three Transition House staffers and two clients. The health unit confirmed the outbreak, based on ministry guidance defining the term as two or more positive cases within a 14-day period that are epidemiologically linked to a specific shelter setting.
The announcement said that the affected staff members are self-isolating at home, and all clients who have tested positive are recovering in dedicated isolation spaces.
“We are working closely with our system partners to ensure outbreak management protocols are in place to reduce the spread of this virus and protect system capacity,” Newman said in the press release.
“In addition, we continue with daily rapid testing of all clients and staff, along with any new clients entering the shelter, along with twice-daily active screening for symptoms, as part of a comprehensive infection-prevention and -control program. Any client who shows symptoms or tests positive is immediately moved into isolation for the recovery period.
Newman listed infection-prevention and -control measures that have been in place since the beginning of the pandemic. These include mandatory use of full personal protective equipment b y staff, mandatory mask policy for clients at all times (except when eating and sleeping), enhanced environmental cleaning protocols, strict adherence to hand-hygiene practices, and periodic on-site vaccination clinics for clients in collaboration with local health-care partners.
“Homelessness-system partners have taken significant steps throughout the pandemic to ensure staff and client safety, while maintaining dignified and supportive shelter services for people experiencing homelessness in our community,” she said.
Newman cited intermittent gaps in staff resourcing that have created pressures for the delivery of the overnight warming room service, spurring its relocation to Transition House from St. Peter's Anglican Church.
“By working with our counterparts at the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit to ensure rigourous infection-prevention and -control measures on-site, both shelter and overnight warming room services continue to be available to members in need, with coordinated access via the 10 Chapel St. Location.”
Members of the community in need of emergency shelter or overnight warming room services can visit Transition House or call 905-376-9562 for more information.
The health unit reports active outbreaks on its website at www.hkpr.on.ca/category/my-community/outbreaks/. While the shelter is listed on this page, the outbreak is considered active.
