Belleville is wrestling with the issue of how to deal with the homeless and their meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The issue is dealing with the homeless and observing the rules surrounding the virus, such as maintaining distance, how to manage self-isolation for a homeless person who test positive for COVID-19.
Mayor Mitch Panciuk tells Quinte News some of the protocols make it very difficult, whether it’s a shelter or a meal program.
He questions, “Where do you send the homeless to self-isolate if they test positive, when they have no home? “
The other issue is meals for the homeless.
There are restrictions on the number of people in attendance and proximity.
There is also the queston of how the meals could be distributed.
Panciuk says these questions have been raised with the provincial government and the province is trying to work it out. “So the province talked about how they’re going to look at revising some of these rules.”
