The Open Door shelter closing for the weekend due to sewer issue and client, staff testing positive

Clients of The Open Door in Montreal will be staying at one of the hotels the city commissioned as homeless shelters this weekend, after sewer problems and a COVID-19 outbreak has forced the shelter to close for a few days.

Three staff membershavetested positive for the coronavirus after a client who visited the shelter later found out they had COVID-19. One staff member is still awaiting results.

But intervention coordinator John Tessier says the shelter would have had enough staff members to continue to operate throughout the employees' quarantine if it weren't for a sewer problem that has rendered its washrooms unusable.

"We have a staff of over 20 people; we have 16 intervention workers, so we could very easily have continued providing all the services we provide," Tessier said.

The Open Door shelter was a day shelter until Dec. 1, when it began offering 24-hour services from its location on Park Avenue.

Tessier says the shelter identified a bigger need for homeless services in the city during the pandemic and since people were evicted from the homeless encampment on Notre-Dame Street by police earlier this month.

The clients who were already staying at the shelter Thursday were shuttled to one of the hotels the city has commissioned as an overnight shelter.

Eighty rooms have been reserved for Open Door clients over the weekend, and Tessier says so far 70 have checked in.

Once those spots were secured, Tessier said the shelter's management "figured it's opportunity for everyone to go and get tested and come back fresh Monday."

He explained that though the rest of the staff had not been in contact with the client who tested positive, they are being tested out of precaution.

Montreal Public Health will be offering tests for the Open Door clients staying at the hotel tomorrow morning.

Tessier said the positive COVID-19 results were worrying, considering none of the shelter's clients had gotten the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic.

"It's been 11 months we've been dealing with this and it's the first time we've had to close our doors for even a day," he said.

The shelter is expected to reopen Monday.