Three Toronto shelters are being investigated by Toronto Public Health as the number of COVID-19 cases rose to 30 in seven locations across the system that serves the city’s homeless and refugee populations. “We were prepared for this unfortunate situation of having cases in the shelter system and I am relieved to report that there have not been any COVID-19 deaths amongst clients in our shelter settings,” said de Villa. She said that early studies from the United States suggest that there may be a higher incidence of COVID-19 in the homeless population, compared to people with secure housing. She said the city has provided community agencies with more than $1 million for their own PPE and cleaning supplies and increased wages for frontline workers. “Given the scale of this pandemic, we knew that despite our best efforts it would unfortunately only be a matter of time before we saw cases of COVID-19 within the shelter system,” said Bédard.

Source: thestar April 14, 2020 23:15 UTC