ELY – At least two motel rooms here are reserved for local residents who test positive for coronavirus and need a safe place to shelter away from family.
St. Louis County Public Health, partnering with Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency (AEOA) and other agencies, is prepared to spend up to $500,000 on hotel rooms at various locations around the county for people who need to quarantine because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At least 90 rooms at four lodging establishments, one each in Duluth, Hibbing, Virginia, and Ely, would be used, according to officials.
“It’s really out of an abundance of caution, and just from a planning perspective, we need to be ready,” Linnea Mirsch, director of St. Louis County Public Health and Human Services told a Duluth media outlet. “It’s really hard to know how many beds we will need, especially in northern parts of St. Louis County.”
Sue Edgington, owner of Adventure Inn and also Ely-Bloomenson Hospital board chair, confirmed for the Timberjay that the Sheridan Street motel she owns with her husband Mark is participating in the program. They signed a 30-day agreement through May 15 to provide isolation lodging if needed to residents in Ely, Tower and Babbitt. As of early this week, the rooms were not occupied.
“We have two rooms ready, strategically located in a corner of our back building, which is perfect for isolation,” Sue Edgington said on Saturday. “Our business and future guests can stay in our front building.”
She said she regretted the way that news of their participation in the program spread like wildfire in and around Ely. Social media blew up last week with concerns that COVID-19 could be brought to the Ely community. The news broke late Wednesday as reported by a Duluth television station.
“The (Ely) mayor was very upset,” Edgington said, “because the rumors sounded like I’m taking in COVID patients from Duluth or wherever, and that is not the case. From there it mushroomed.”
Ely Mayor Chuck Novak pushed back on the unsubstantiated rumors.
“The rooms that are being contracted in Ely are for the purpose of being available in case someone here tests positive,” he said. “They are not planning to send people from anywhere else to here at this point. The intent is if someone here tests positive, it would be a respite. Say a person at home with a family tests positive (for the coronavirus), and the rest of the family does not test positive, they need to get away from the rest of the family and this will make that possible.”
Edgington noted a local newspaper that reported on the isolation program declined to contact her for a comment.
“Instead, they focused on my Facebook page where I got blasted by a woman who freaked out and didn’t know the whole story and started attacking me and the St. Louis County Health Department,” she said. “Then I started getting emails, and it was just hell.”
On Adventure Inn’s Facebook page Edgington wrote, “We do not have anybody here. What we offered was two rooms for the month of April to provide isolation in case someone in Ely has no place to shelter. We have homeless and indigent people here and it is to protect the community from them spreading it. Please try to understand that this is to protect our community.”
In a related Facebook post, she added “We are not making much money on this at all. This is to provide a service to protect our community in case it is needed. We have a large population in our area that might need to be isolated.”
Edgington revealed that she would be reimbursed $50 per night if her rooms are utilized for the isolation program. The services would be provided only to those who have a positive lab-confirmed case of COVID-19, and have no place to safely isolate, according to St. Louis County officials.
St. Louis County District 4 Commissioner Paul McDonald praised the efforts of the local business.
“This is locals helping locals,” he said. “(The county) is not going to bring people from somewhere else up here. This program is to help out Ely.”
He indicated that federal dollars are allocated for the program.
“County taxpayers are funding the operation for the immediate future, but we are seeking federal reimbursements that would likely be approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. We may be getting some state dollars to help with this, too,” McDonald added.
Edgington said she does not plan to extend her agreement past mid-May, “not unless there is a strong need and there is no tourism business.”
She said she is participating in the program as a way of giving back to the Ely community.
“We had amazing community support when our son got cancer and died,” Edgington said. “We owe this community a lot.”
Edgington said they often provide space at the motel for others in need.
“We have been a go-to for women who are escaping from (an unsafe) domestic situation,” she said. “We take in homeless that churches in our community send over. We have temporarily taken in people who have a mental illness and are waiting to get placed into a more permanent living arrangement. We have done this for years and this is just one more thing that we do to help out our community,” she said.