Dear Friends of Adam House,

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As COVID-19 continues to rock the world, we desire to keep you up-to-date about how it is affecting refugee claimants.  We also want to be transparent about a recent outbreak at the house, and encourage you to pray for us.  

 

Refugee claimants face many unique hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most notably, immigration and settlement delays, and challenges accessing ESL classes and employment training.  Additionally, newcomers, who often come from more community oriented cultures, are already more vulnerable to isolation and loneliness, and are understandably frustrated by social distancing guidelines.  

 

Adam House is a communal living space, and in this new paradigm, we discovered new challenges, as we served such a diverse community.  We realized that that left us vulnerable, and so had implemented several measures to help mitigate the risks, including, but not limited to: hand sanitation stations, regular disinfection of high-touch surfaces, and a quarantine period for new residents.

 

Despite our efforts, we experienced an outbreak in October 2020, traced to scheduled programming at the shelter. No one, thankfully, was seriously ill.  

 

We were in contact with and taking guidance from Toronto Public Health in regard to the outbreak - isolating those who have tested positive, and learning how to prevent future outbreaks. We have added regular health screening to our COVID-19 protocol, and are considering how to tweak our scheduled programming to allow for strict social distancing. 

 

We value your partnership and at this time ask you to partner by praying for protection over our home, wisdom for our staff, and for our residents to take social distancing recommendations seriously, for the good of all.