Three more isolation centres to be established in Brampton

As we move into the holidays, the Ontario government says it’s providing new funding to help impacted regions create more COVID-19 isolation centres, of which Brampton will get three.

The province will be investing up to $42 million to establish isolation centres in priority neighbourhoods in Peel Region as well as Toronto, Durham, and York.

The new funding for Peel will support an additional 700 isolation beds in January, with funding committed to March 31, 2021.

Brampton will get three new isolation centres of 140 beds each. The locations of the new centres will be determined in the coming days, according to Brampton mayor Patrick Brown.

“This is good news for our community.  We must protect the health and safety of our residents,” Brown said.

“There are many high priority neighbourhoods in Brampton that have registered high COVID-19 infection and low testing rates, and face socio-demographic barriers to testing and self-isolation.”

The isolation centres aim to provide a space for residents who have COVID-19 (or have been exposed to it) to self-isolate when they cannot safely do so at home due to crowded housing or a lack of space.

The mayor thanked Premier Doug Ford and Steve Clark, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, for providing resources to implement a High Priority Communities Strategy in high-risk neighbourhoods.

In addition to more isolation centres, Brown has been calling for more financial support, more testing, and sick benefits for COVID patients to help fight the rising number of COVID cases in Brampton.

“I look forward to working with my council colleagues and Dr. Lawrence Loh, the Medical Officer of the Health on the implementation plan,” he said.