COVID-19 isolation and recovery centre for migrant workers closing due to lack of demand – CBC

Essex County says centre has been empty for ‘several months’

Mar 23, 2023

After nearly three years, Windsor-Essex’s COVID-19 isolation and recovery centre for migrant workers will close at the end of March due to dwindling demand.

In an email, the County of Essex’s acting chief administrative officer Mary Birch said that the 50-bed centre is closing because “no agri-food workers have been isolating and recovering at the centre in recent months.” As well, the funding agreement with the federal government is set to expire by the end of this month.

The county’s community services manager Jeanie Diamond-Francis couldn’t say for how long the centre has been empty, but she noted that it hasn’t been used for “several months.”

“The need for the site has decreased. We worked with community partners and we feel that at this time, the centre is no longer needed,” Diamond-Francis said in an interview with CBC News.

“The burden of illness [isn’t] as prevalent in our community, therefore the need for the isolation and recovery centre was not as significant as it was in the past.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/covid-19-isolation-recovery-centre-march-1.6788254