(Montreal) In what appears to be one of his last acts as Quebec’s national director of public health, Dr.r Horacio Arruda asked shelters for homeless people to increase their capacity so that “no one is forced to sleep outside in these extreme colds”.
According to the email, of which The Canadian Press obtained a copy, Dr Arruda calls on organizations helping homeless people to ignore COVID-19 for the next few nights, when the mercury is expected to drop below -20 ° C in Montreal and elsewhere in Quebec. He asks shelters to open their dormitories “according to the capacity established before the pandemic, regardless of the outbreak status of the environment”.
The director of public health sent the request in the early evening on Monday, just hours before news of his resignation was made public.
Always according to the content of the email from Dr Arruda, we can read that “the distancing instructions in connection with COVID-19 cannot prevail over human life”.
This message was well received in the community, where we were obviously already on high alert on Monday evening when the temperature was dropping rapidly.
Several homelessness organizations have opened their facilities for the night, including the Old Brewery Mission which is operating at full capacity and which will exceptionally welcome people to its café.
The Director of Services of the Saint-Laurent Campus at Old Brewery, Émilie Fortier, supports the “completely logical” reasoning of public health “because it is less than 40” and that “in any case, we are doing a regular screening, ”she explains.
The real problem is that of the workforce, while a shortage already existed before the pandemic, the virus has come to further complicate things by infiltrating work teams.
In addition, the virus circulates abundantly within the homeless population. Currently, the isolation area reserved for homeless people is located at the Chrome Hotel, where 150 people can be accommodated.
Émilie Fortier, who is also director of the “COVID isolation zone” in Montreal, said the service should move shortly to a location to double this capacity.
The Old Brewery Saint-Laurent Campus was also in an outbreak of COVID-19, “but we managed to secure the majority of people, so we continue the admissions,” said Mr.me Fortier.
“As my president told me: ‘It’s a health storm, a climatic storm, a social storm,” ”she sums up.
Cities, hospitals and police arrested
In addition to asking to increase the reception capacity of the shelters, the Dr Arruda asks municipalities to open their public places for the night. He cites as an example public transport infrastructure, libraries or community halls.
He also addresses the police, asking them to “show leniency” to allow people in the street to warm up inside the porticoes of buildings.
Emergencies are also invited not to give leave to homeless patients.