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A COVID-19 outbreak at Windsor’s Downtown Mission that began 49 days ago and saw positive cases among more than 100 people has been rescinded.
The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit declared the Mission’s outbreak over on Thursday, indicating no clients or staff had tested positive in the last two weeks.
“It showed how quickly things can get bad,” said Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed. “Hopefully we can keep everyone safe from this point onwards.”
Managing the outbreak, which began on Feb. 11 when a more highly contagious variant of concern was identified at the Mission, “definitely was challenging, but I think we got through,” he said.
The Mission was allowed to resume sheltering homeless people at its Victoria and Ouellette Avenue locations last week after an order from Ahmed prohibiting them from operating out of either site was lifted. Although the outbreak remained active at the time, enhanced measures were implemented in collaboration with the health unit to prevent further transmission.
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The Mission’s outbreak prompted the City of Windsor and multiple partner agencies to rush to establish an emergency shelter at the Windsor International Aquatic and Training Centre. That converted space, along with two isolation and recovery centres, provided shelter and COVID-19 testing for 160 people.
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More than 150 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were also administered on-site to the city’s homeless, who are considered at an increased risk of contracting the novel coronavirus, in part due to their dependence on congregate shelter settings.
Also during the outbreak, the Mission operated a temporary shelter at 850 Ouellette Ave., the Windsor Public Library’s former downtown branch. The decision to keep that shelter open in defiance of Ahmed’s order that it be closed ignited criticism, including from the mayor’s office, though Mission leadership argued some homeless people had nowhere else to go.
The library shelter remained in operation until March 11, after five guests there tested positive.
In total, 106 mission staff and guests tested positive for COVID-19.
tcampbell@postmedia.com
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