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Two cases of COVID-19 reported at Duncan homeless site

Afflicted are self isolating in their cabins
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Two people diagnosed with COVID-19 at the homeless site on St. Julien Street in Duncan are self-isolating in their cabins (pictured). (File photo)

Two cases of COVID-19 have been identified at the temporary homeless site on St. Julien Street in Duncan, where 12 people are currently residing.

John Horn, co-chair of the COVID-19 Vulnerable Population Cowichan Task Force which is responsible for running the site with funding from BC Housing, said the two people diagnosed with the virus are self isolating in their eight-by-eight wooden cabins that replaced their tents in January, with their food and other necessities being brought to them.

“This is what the site is set up for,” Horn said.

“The site and cabins are designed so that people who catch COVID-19 can self isolate. No one else at the site has caught the virus, and we’re working hard to ensure that they don’t.”

There have been a number of outbreaks and exposures of COVID-19 in the Cowichan Valley, including at some schools and businesses, since the new year.