Kathleen Smith is taking the temperature of the Covid-19 outbreak in the city's homeless population, literally.
"Anyone coming into the door is screened, temperature checked, and asked about any new symptoms," says the 27-year-old staff member at Sanctuary Ministries Toronto, which has become a lifeline for the city's homeless population.
Every day she and the other frontline workers are just trying to keep up. There are four drop-ins a week, and before each one, the facility undergoes a deep clean.
"We are allowing five people in at a time, and we're maintaining social distancing so they can access food, showers, other essential services," says Smith. "To be honest, it's impossible. It's impossible to socially distance if you're staying in a shelter or in a respite space. Even workers in those spaces are really limited in the resources they have to try and make that happen."
On Thursday, Sanctuary staff had to call 911 for a client who was experiencing Covid-19 symptoms.
"The person in question was experiencing quite severe symptoms, so I believe they were actually taken to an emergency room," says Smith. "There's also a breakdown there in communication. We weren't guaranteed any kind of follow up in terms of finding out if that person would actually be diagnosed with COVID-19, which is a concern for us because they were interacting with our staff and our community members."
While anyone diagnosed with Covid-19 who is experiencing homelessness will be given a hotel room to self-isolate, Smith would like the city to be more proactive and less reactive. Smith adds that commandeering hotel rooms for vulnerable people before they get sick, will help stop the spread.
"We will have many deaths and any lags in action is going to cause more," says Smith.
If there is an outbreak within the homeless community, Smith says it would have a devastating death toll.
"There will be hundreds of deaths within that community. It's also a risk to the broader population, of course. The more people walking around with COVID-19, the greater the risk to the broader population."
In his daily address on Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged the strain COVID-19 has put on the most vulnerable in this country and the people who work with them.
"I know it's been hard lately. Not just because more and more people need your help, but because you're struggling to keep doing this work for marginalized and vulnerable people during a public health crisis on a scale that Canada has never before seen."
Last week, Trudeau announced $200 million for shelters. On Sunday, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development Ahmed Hussen, announced $157 million would be funnelled to Reaching Home, the government's homelessness prevention program.
So far, Smith says she hasn't seen any federal money but says the city has committed some funding for cleaning, though Sanctuary is still awaiting a timeline and a dollar figure.
"I know the health care workers and health care system are overstretched and doing everything they can," says Smith. "But right now, the protocols and processes to respond to people without housing or without adequate housing just aren't enough to be keeping them safe and keeping us safe."
