How the Toronto neighborhood, known as the coronavirus hotspot, opposes COVID-19

The Thorncliff Park community opposes COVID-19 and the “unfair” designation that they are coronavirus hotspots after three schools have been temporarily closed due to an outbreak. say.

“We are worried and worried,” said community group Ahmed Hussein. Neighborhood organization..

“We are worried that people may think we are irresponsible. We have not taken any precautions to take, but the community has taken all precautions and all public health guidelines. We are working very hard to comply with. “

The Toronto School District Board of Education has announced that the Mark Garnot University Institute will need to be temporarily closed from Tuesday to Friday, December 18, after 14 students test positive. COVID-19 (new coronavirus infection) (# If there is no character limit, add parentheses when it first appears..

Before that, Toronto Public Health was closed Thorncliff Park Public School As a result of numerous tests, 19 positive COVID-19 cases occurred.

The nearby Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy was also temporarily closed after seeing seven confirmed cases of coronavirus in the past week and a half.

Hussein argues that the high number of positive cases is also due to his community’s open arms to “accept” the COVID-19 test and encourage as many members as possible to be tested. I will.

“The community actually agreed that school children would be tested to ensure the safety of everyone,” he said.

“The community is actually accepting tests.”

Thorncliff Park completed more than 32 tests per 1,000 inhabitants during the week of November 22, about twice as much as its neighbors. This is the latest data available on the Toronto Public Health website.

In the neighborhood Positive rate test That was 10.6% of the same week.

According to Hussein, many of the members of the community are new immigrants with low-income jobs who are usually at high risk of getting the coronavirus.

“Many of our community members are essential service workers, so they are involved in the food sector, transportation and health care,” he said.

“They have no choice, no sick leave, no vacation, they have to go. If they don’t, they won’t get paid.”

According to Hussein, community members are opposed to the stigma of the neighborhood labeled COVID-19 “hotspot” by the media and want to emphasize the number of members working to help each other through the pandemic. thinking about.

One example is a food bank run by a local organization. According to this group, 800 families depend on their diet each week.

Volunteers at the food bank in East York Town Center also do not get in the way to help older community members.

“We have more than 50 people bringing food to the elderly at their doors and buying medicine for them,” Hussein said.

Another member of the community is teaching new immigrants how Sew your own mask From the discarded cloth, she said she couldn’t afford to buy the mask the other way around.

“Not all people have a job, they are not rich,” said Sedika Naurodian, who recently emigrated from Afghanistan where she worked for women’s rights.

“They have financial problems or they don’t know how to get to the market to be newcomers. There are language barriers and cultural barriers.”

She also added that a neighborhood organization linked them to buyers who bought the masks they made for a fixed cost.

“I’m very happy now that I’m selling masks and making money,” she said with a laugh. “I am happy now.”

Nada Albaradan is a Syrian refugee and a 12th grade student at the Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute.

She said she felt the stigma around the community was “unfair” because she had worked for years to have a positive impact on her neighborhood, such as teaching English to newly immigrated students at school. It was.

“I experienced a situation that didn’t help, so I started helping others. It’s great to feel that you can provide that help.”

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