COVID-19 Outbreak Declared

A COVID-19 outbreak has been declared and remains in effect at the YWCA in Thompson in an effort to stop any further spread of the virus at the facility. The public health investigation has identified that the risk to short-term stay residents is low, however, out of an abundance of caution, public health has recommended self monitoring for COVID-19 symptoms to anyone who stayed at the YWCA between October 4 – 14, 2020.

“We thank the public and our partners for their outpouring of support during this challenging time,” Executive Director Kim Hickes said. “The outbreak is contained on the third floor and it’s important for the public to know that we are maintaining our operations in the rest of the building as best we can.”

The Y’s Shelter in Place Program (SHIPP) operates from the third floor. The program is self-contained on the third floor of the YWCA: program participants access the building through the separate entrance, and interactions with staff and clients outside of this program are extremely limited. Visitor access has been restricted as a result.

The SHIPP initiative was developed earlier this year to address concerns over COVID-19 and Thompson’s homeless residents.

Public Health staff from the Northern Health Region are conducting contact tracing and are supervising the staff and clients currently in isolation.

“We really need a community effort to support the Y and its operations as they work with health officials to contain and address this outbreak,” YWCA Board President Charlene Lafreniere said. “Kindness and understanding go a long way at a time like this and we know if we work together as Northerners, we can beat this.”

Kim Hickes, Executive Director YWCA

Background information on the SHIPP initiative can be found here: https://northernernews.ca/2020/04/18/ywca-first-wave-homeless-pandemic.