There is no doubt that the global pandemic has put a large emotional and financial toll on local residents.
Chatham-Kent council has been given a snapshot of just how big of a human, social and community impact Covid-19 has had in the municipality, with a presentation during last night’s electronic council meeting.
Councillor Melissa Harrigan said the report was eye opening.
“Just how much Covid-19 has magnified some of the problems that we face in our community,” Harrigan says.
The pandemic has led to more mental health needs, substance use, food insecurity, housing and shelter needs, and financial barriers and challenges for area residents.
The report highlighted the concerns with caregivers, the long-term impacts on health and well-being, safety in living and working conditions, and employment.
CAO Don Shropshire says any pandemic recovery plans need to keep the community’s most vulnerable in mind.
“We’ve seen a huge, negative impact on COVID for our homeless population, we’ve had an increase by over 300%, it’s shone a alight on people that are suffering from addictions and mental health issues” Shropshire says. “As we start to move forward and look at our plans in response to COVID, we definitely have to consider these groups as part of our overall strategy.”
Dr April Rietdyk, Chatham-Kent’s General Manager of Community Human Services, says there are some long-standing issues in the community that have been heightened by the pandemic.
“We will take some time to do some more consultations with a number of community partners and some of our priority groups,” Rietdyk says. “While the work that’s been done to date is wonderful, it’s lots of data, lots of information for us, we need to talk now to the people that are living through COVID-19, and the people that are delivering front-line services.”
Rietdyk says the goal is to have an actionable report back to council before the 2021 budget process begins.
