Hearst Town Council has told the province that it will host up to 50 evacuees this spring but with special guidelines. Chief Administrative Officer Yves Morrissette says in the past they had taken up to 150, but that has changed due to COVID-19. He adds that they are like many communities in our region that are concerned with Personal Protective Equipment.
“We don’t know how the Province is going to respond to that,” Morrissette said. “I don’t know how they are going to manage to provide PPE for all of the municipalities that will host evacuees. It’s a tough situation to be in right now.”
Morrissette outlines some of the other stipulations.
“We want to have enough PPE for the medical personnel before the evacuees get here,” he said. “We want to have medical staff on hand with their own supplies ready to go and also before they arrive. We also want the Cochrane District to be given a special distinction with all of the communities that may have to participate.”
Cochrane announced yesterday that it won’t be hosting anyone this year. Meantime, Kapuskasing Town Council said they would only host evacuees if it was a life and limb situation with flooding taking place.
