A social service advocate in Kamloops is calling for improvements to testing street-affected people for COVID-19, after it took three days to tell a local homeless person his test came back positive.

Glenn Hilke is the program coordinator for The Loop on the North Shore, at 405A Tranquille Road.

He says someone who volunteered all of last week tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, but Interior Health had no cell phone, email or fixed address to reach him at.

Hilke says that person only found out yesterday, saying a contract tracer phoned him to ask where the affected person was.

“It was just serendipity that he happened to come back around our centre yesterday. We closed down once we heard about the positive, and we made sure all of our staff and volunteers got tested yesterday,” he says.

“That was really a wake-up call for all the agencies. That you have somebody who went on their own to get tested, but then there was no way for them to find out about their results.”

Hilke says everyone at The Loop wears a mask and follows COVID-19 safety protocols, and he says there have been no other positive tests. His own test came back negative last night.

“One thing I think that’s important… we have had absolutely no pushback when we say to people you have to hand sanitize and wear a mask. Not a single example of someone who is an anti-masker,” he says. “I think they are hyper-aware that they are at great risk, because of their living situation.”

Meanwhile, the affected man is now staying at a local motel, set up for street-affected people to stay if they’ve tested positive for the virus or have to self-isolate after being exposed. This is the first known COVID-19 case among the homeless population in Kamloops.

Now, Hilke wants to see mobile COVID-19 testing units for homeless people. He says Alberta started doing that practice today, and says he’s meeting with Interior Health today and planned to bring that up.

“We need to have people who do the tests come to where the people are. Because to expect them to go through the process of registering for a test, it’s just illogical. It’s unreasonable. It’s not going to happen,” he says.

“At least if we know someone has a positive test, then Interior Health can notify us. And when we see that person again, we can let them know.”