Two more coronavirus cases at homeless shelter

Victims were residents of city’s largest shelter, MSC-South

Two more homeless San Franciscans have tested positive for COVID-19, the city reported Monday, further stoking fears about the virus spreading through shelter communities.

The two new victims, whose test results were confirmed Sunday, were living at MSC-South, San Francisco’s largest homeless shelter.

On Thursday, the city reported its first coronavirus infection among its homeless shelter population — a case at the Division Circle Navigation Center on Mission Street.

All three residents are in good condition and are isolated and recovering in hotel rooms while city health officials deep clean both shelters and try to pinpoint who else may be infected.

“This underscores the need for us to continue to focus on the most vulnerable populations, including those in long-term care facilities, shelters, people over 60 and those with underlying health conditions,” Dr. Grant Colfax, director of San Francisco’s Department of Public Health, said during a news briefing Monday.

After the positive cases were reported, the city supplied both shelters with additional masks and advised all shelter residents and staff to wear them at all times — guidance that now is being given to all shelters in the city, said Abigail Stewart-Kahn, director of strategy and external affairs for San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

Physicians and health workers are screening staff and residents at both shelters for symptoms, and will test those with symptoms, as well as anyone who had close contact with any of the three infected people. Anyone who tests positive for the virus or displays symptoms, or who has heightened vulnerability, will be removed from the shelter and quarantined in a hotel room, Stewart-Kahn said.

As of Monday, San Francisco had moved 150 infected and recovering people from hospitals into hotel rooms, plus 40 vulnerable homeless residents from shelters, said Trent Rhorer, executive director of the city’s Human Services Agency. So far, the city has procured 945 rooms in eight hotels.

Rhorer also announced a shift in policy Monday. Hotel rooms originally were reserved for homeless residents who were infected or exposed — in an attempt to free up hospital beds — or first responders in need of somewhere to quarantine.

Now, as the city tries to thin out its shelter population to give residents room for social distancing, hotel rooms also will be available for homeless shelter residents who are over 60 or have underlying health conditions.

At the same time, city staff will reduce the population of Moscone West — which opened as a homeless shelter for 394 people last week — down to 200 people, and will give each person an individual partition.

Two San Francisco supervisors are working to house more homeless residents in hotels.

Supervisor Matt Haney said Monday that he moved 17 homeless men from the Hospitality House Tenderloin shelter — where they had been staying in bunk beds and cots in close quarters — into individual hotel rooms. The effort was funded in large part by a $100,000 donation from the United Methodist Church.

“It’s dangerous and inhumane to leave so many people in crowded shelters or out on the street during this crisis, where it is impossible for them to keep adequate distance from others and protect their health,” Haney wrote in a news release. “The solution is not complicated.”

San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston has launched a similar effort, moving 39 women and families out of shelters and into hotel rooms using donations, including $10,000 from his own pocket.

San Francisco on Monday reported 583 coronavirus cases, including 83 hospitalizations, and nine deaths.