Warming Room Moved to Transition House Despite Knowledge of Suspected Cases of COVID-19

Pete Fisher
2 years ago
• Categories: Local

Today’s Northumberland has confirmed even though there were suspected cases of COVID-19 at Transiton House, because of the dire need for shelter, the warming room was moved there last Friday.

On Friday, January 14, 2022 the overnight warming room at St. Peter’s Anglican Church was shifted to Transition House on Chapel Street a short distance away.

The reason given at the time was “intermittent staff resource constraints” said Northumberland County Director of Communications Kate Campbell.

Campbell said the move is a “temporary shift with no impact to service capacity.”

In fact, working with the local health unit, they have been able to expand capacity from 10, to 20 clients.

On Tuesday, January 18, 2022 Executive Director of Transition House, Anne Newman stated “suspected cases” of COVID-19 emerged last week at Transition House prior to the warming room being moved.

“PCR testing was then undertaken, with confirmation yesterday (Monday, January 17, 2022) prompting the Health Unit to declare an outbreak,” said Newman.

“At the same time last week, we were assessing temporary consolidation of overnight warming room and shelter services on-site at Transition House, in response to intermittent resourcing challenges in staffing both services.”

Newman stated, “the critical need for shelter and warming room services for our community, we confirmed with HKPRDHU that the robust infection prevention and control measures in place on-site would enable continued provision of these services.”

Positive cases have been confirmed among three Transition House staff and two clients.