MONTREAL -- Montreal police caught up with a man who was tested for COVID-19, found to be positive, and was waiting in line for a meal at the Old Brewery Mission after wandering Montreal for two days.
The man was waiting outside in line for the evening food service at the Mission Monday night when police found him and informed him of the positive test.
The mission’s executive director Matthew Pearce said the man did not enter the building but was waiting to pick up a boxed meal, which the mission has been providing to those who do not sleep at the facility.
The man was apparently tested 48 hours before he showed up for dinner, but was allowed to leave the screening site without obtaining results. Once notified, he left with the police to go to the hospital without incident.
Pearce has warned that the city’s most vulnerable population will soon be among those testing positive for coronavirus and was disturbed that the man would be left to wander the streets while carrying the virus.
“For 48 hours or so he was left to his own devices,” said Pearce. “There was probably about a hundred people standing in line waiting for their meal.”
The mission has now added a policy that those in line for food will be tested for COVID-19, and those who test positive can be taken to a facility for isolation.
"Now we have a whole new protocol in place to deal with that, which includes if someone is a homeless person and is tested and shows symptoms, they will put him in a hotel that they are using for that purpose so they can isolate in a hotel room," said Pearce. "Sometimes it takes these kinds of events because there's so many things to pay attention to as a healthcare professional that you can't be on top of everything all the time."
Pearce said the frontline staff is doing the best they can to keep people apart in line and at the facility. Meals are served on a floor-by-floor basis with each floor being thoroughly cleaned when the residents are eating. Other cleaning and hand-washing protocols are in place in addition to dividers to separate people.
Pearce does not fault the healthcare people for allowing the man to leave for two days. He is happy that the system has been improved.
"I say great. You saw this, you jumped on it, you fixed it," said Pearce.
The vulnerable homeless population is very much at risk due to multiple health issues, Pearce said, but also that the risk is one all Montrealers should worry about.
"Beyond it being a homeless issue, it's a Montreal issue because many of these people are in shelter environments that are densely populated - distancing is not possible all the time - and so if it gets into the shelters, the potential for it to spread amongst the populations (is huge)," said Pearce.
Flattening the curve, Pearce said, requires paying attention to the homeless population.
