TCHC versus COVID

A deputation I submitted in writing to TCHC's Tenant Services Committee on January 25th, 2021.  They wouldn't allow me to verbally depute on the agenda.  Despite the glaring omission described below:

"One thing that appears to be missing from this agenda is a COVID19 update. After the mayor posted on Twitter {this past Friday} that 1386 TCHC tenants had been tested since June I believe that it is increasingly more important for an update to Tenant Services Committee on COVID19 updates for the tenants.
The mayor posted and TCHC reposted.
I did the math.
(Total number of tenants tested) 1386 divided by (Total number of tenants) 110 000 equals 0.0126 Now, to find the percentage of tenants vaccinated we move the decimal two spaces to the right and that brings us to 1.26% of the total population of TCHC tenants that have been tested.
For the sake of expediency lets round the time frame off to six months. So 1.26% over six months that would translate to 2.52% over one year. Now we divide 100% (full TCHC population) by 2.52% (estimated annual testing rate among TCHC tenants) we arrive at 39.682539692539 for the number of years at the current rate that it would take to test all TCHC tenants. That's approximately 40 years! That is so far from acceptable in my view that I find it reprehensible that a mayor be boasting and Toronto Community Housing be reposting!
(Anyone that knows numbers knows that my calculations are on the generous side of the COVID/TCHC equation.)
In an additional video posted to Facebook the mayor clearly states that these tests were given in Seniors buildings. This justifies my previous concerns about the fact that TCHC and the city have created a two-tiered system that grants the seniors that live in seniors designated buildings with services not even offered to seniors living throughout the rest of the portfolio.
This is clearly a case of city sanctioned discrimination based on address/place of residence. Certainly other TCHC communities would take COVID more seriously if we were all offered onsite, mobile, and/or door to door testing.
TCHC should be looking to further partner with Toronto Public Health for the entire portfolio not just the seniors designated buildings. Especially, given the fact the COVID isn't killing just seniors but vulnerable people as well. And TCHC is full of vulnerable tenants. Another partnership that the City of Toronto should have supported from the beginning was between TTC and TCHC. The TTC has had these fabulous stickers that remind people to wear masks on their vehicle. Ask them for their template for these stickers. After all, mask wearing in TCHC is going to be around for a long time given the calculation based on current testing rates that it could take approximately 40 years before all TCHC tenants to be vaccinated (if vaccination rates proceed at the same rate as the testing). That's just the current COVID variant vaccine not necessarily what it will take to vaccinate those that have already had COVID nor the vaccine for whatever COVID variants that follow...

...If TCHC posted these stickers on the inside of every apartment door (beside above or below the current In Case Of Fire sticker) it would reinforce that concept before they reach the elevator where signage is up but TCHC knows tenants don't pay much attention to. There are also some tenants that don't pay attention to COVID elevator capacity limits.
I'd also like to know at what COVID19 infection percentage does TCHC notify tenants of cases in their own buildings/communities? (A simple notice in a building stating that someone has tested positive may encourage mask wearing among the unaffected uninfected.) Is public health tracking tenants that have tested positive?
Can our Special Constables ticket those persons who are non-compliant with respect to masks? If not should someone not be advocating for the city to give them the authority to do so. (I co-ordinate the food bank in my building and I would very much appreciate the heads up should a known case be in my building. That way I could reinforce the mask wearing message. I don't need to know what floor or what unit. Unless of course they are one of the food bank users and at that point I'd need to deliver their orders to their door.)
If there is no bylaw regarding mask wearing as a ticketable offence should TCHC not be advocating for such a device to decrease the potential spread of COVID19 in our communities? How often are front line staff tested? Could the Confronting Anti-Black Racism team not somehow take the lead on advocating for COVID testing among all TCHC communities? Especially given the fact that people of colour and the poor are the most impacted by this virus.
On November 9th, 2020 the COVID-19 Immunization Task Force released a statement regarding the preparations for the vaccine roll out. Shouldn't TCHC have a member on this Task Force to advocate for the vaccinations to be made available more directly to our tenants in their own communities? There are too many vulnerable tenants and seniors that have been told to stay home from the very beginning of COVID. I don't think they are going to risk a trip to the Air Canada Center downtown to be vaccinated. Just sayin'
Overall, there are a lot of partnerships that the City should have facilitated for TCHC before I made the suggestions. Now that I have I would hope for the health and safety of all TCHC tenants during this pandemic that someone will begin to make the appropriate overtures." At this rate COVID will win by a landslide.