COVID outbreak among homeless lodged at Bel Air Motel

The District of Sault Ste. Marie Social Services Administration Board (DSSMSSAB) has confirmed a COVID-19 outbreak among the homeless people who were relocated to a local motel from the encampment that was erected outside city hall last month. 

Social services board chair Luke Dufour told SooToday Wednesday that the Bel Air Motel is now under lockdown with an undisclosed number of positive COVID cases. Social services has also rented out the entire Pim Street motel in an effort to keep members of the public away from the outbreak site. 

A number of encampment protesters have since been removed from the site, Dufour says, but not before creating a spike in COVID-19 cases among the homeless.

“After everyone moved up to the Bel Air Motel, it turned out that there was a small but very aggressive and vocal contingent of the protesters who wanted to come and offer services, but who were very anti-vaccination and anti-masking,” said Dufour. “When the first positive COVID case turned up, these individuals were advising the homeless clients that their COVID came from seeing vaccinated social workers and told them that they should not be wearing masks or self-isolating.”

When social services learned about the behaviour of the protesters involved, they were immediately removed from the motel. 

Addiction and Mental Health Advocates were given a chance to come and offer services to those in need at the motel after the protesters were removed from the motel, but Dufour says the group was “overwhelmed by the situation.” Services are now being provided by social services, Sault Area Hospital and the Canadian Mental Health Association. 

Social services made plans to use Verdi Hall as a low-barrier shelter for those staying at Bel-Air Motel, but Dufour says that’s a no-go right now due to the positive COVID cases. 

“We’re still doing things in the background to make sure that we’ll be able to open the Verdi, but we’re only going to do that when it’s absolutely safe to do so - and that means no positive cases,” he said. 

Dufour credits the homelessness prevention team, which consists of social services staff, for dealing with the homelessness situation from the time the encampment was established outside city hall last month.  

“Social services’ homelessness prevention team has been absolutely incredible in dealing with this. I can’t speak high enough praise for the level of professionalism that I’ve seen from the team - folks being willing to go down, go to the teepee, engage in the sharing circle and build these relationships with what turned out to be very difficult personalities, and then still be willing and happy to clean up the mess, so to speak, even when it involves something as serious as COVID-positive cases,” said Dufour. “These people working for the homelessness prevention team have been working overtime [and] going into these environments. My hat’s been off to them for the level of extra effort they’ve put into dealing with this situation. We’re really lucky to have them in our community.”