Coronavirus and the risk to the homeless
As the Covid-19 situation worsens, perhaps it would be both wise and ethical to consider a section of the population as yet unmentioned, always uncared for and at all times unable to self-isolate.
Homeless people are vulnerable in general and, with the likelihood of poor nutrition and other possible health complications, at great risk of contracting the virus. Those who live on the streets have limited opportunities to wash their hands for 30 seconds numerous times a day and cannot be involved in the panic-buying of handsanitising gels, toilet rolls or pain relief.
These citizens, with equal rights to dignity and social welfare, are quite literally left out in the cold. Even if one doesn’t have an appropriate ethical response to human suffering, one has to consider the spread of the coronavirus through and via an unmonitored part of the community.
We have a duty of care to all people. And street-sleepers, who are unlikely to have brought the infection back from a foreign business trip or holiday, will be among those affected by the illness and will require medical care.
Spreading information, providing easier access to washing facilities, and monitoring health would be a start. But, on a wider scale, this situation seems to shine a light on the ways in which, as a society, we forget about people among us who have nothing. Perhaps it’s time to reconsider the ethical base of our communities, and our social system. What moral nation can allow its citizens to live without shelter, safety or dignity?
Rutger Bregman, in Utopia for Realists, mentioned a trial in London where £3,000 was given, no strings attached, to homeless people in the city. The effects were remarkable. Most turned their lives around – and the cost to society was less than had they remained on the streets.
There will be a future after Covid-19 and surely this shock to the system should encourage us to want to make it better, fairer and more humane.Isabella ClarkeNorthampton
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