Protecting homeless residents the right focus amid outbreak
The COVID-19 fallout is happening so fast it’s hard to keep tabs on it all. From Italy locking down a nation of some 60 million people to New York deploying the National Guard to help contain the coronavirus in New Rochelle, government and public health officials are taking unprecedented peacetime measures to hinder the public’s movement. Federal officials want Americans to avoid cruise ships, and health officials want to limit social visits to nursing homes and assisted living centers. Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden canceled major rallies in Cleveland Tuesday night.
In San Diego, “social distancing” has led San Diego State University and the University of California San Diego to move to online courses, and the San Diego Opera to halt performances. Meanwhile, companies from Petco to Sempra Energy are suspending travel.
At the same time, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has begun assessing the newly arrested at intake for symptoms and travel history.
Perhaps most reassuring amid an outbreak that poses particular challenges for vulnerable populations like the elderly and those with underlying health conditions, the focus in California cities from San Diego to San Francisco has shifted to ensuring the coronavirus doesn’t take hold in homeless communities.
In the Bay Area, public officials created a $5 million emergency fund and ordered better cleaning in shelters, resource centers and single-room occupancy hotels. San Francisco Mayor London Breed explained the problem succinctly: “The unfortunate reality for many people experiencing homelessness is that they’re unable to quarantine themselves if they have symptoms.”
Locally, the county’s Health and Human Services Agency is placing 66 public handwashing stations across San Diego, adding to the existing 12. Last week, the agency placed new hand-washing stations in other parts of the county, including Carlsbad, Lakeside, Spring Valley, Ramona and Fallbrook.
At San Diego city leaders’ request, county officials are also using public health nurses to train staff members at shelters and to screen those with symptoms that include fever, coughing or shortness of breath. “We are on high alert,” tweeted San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, “and remain in constant communication with the county on this issue.”
Miscommunication among local and county officials led to a botched initial response to a deadly hepatitis A outbreak in 2017 that left 20 people dead and 592 people ill — and hit the homeless population hard. The early effort to protect and inform such a large, vulnerable population is both smart and crucial to stopping the spread of disease.
Assisting the effort at the city level is former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg, who created an online network to connect mayors and public health experts to help communities cope with the spread of the coronavirus. At the federal level, President Donald Trump met with Senate Republicans to work on an economic package to ease the impact of the disease, and Vice President Mike Pence announced that health insurers have agreed to waive co-pays for coronavirus tests and not to send patients unexpected bills.
Going forward, a unified response will be as essential as everyone listening to experts and sharing the facts. The risk of contracting the virus and having serious complications remains low for healthy people, but wild swings in the stock market and runs on items at stores could continue. If you’re inconvenienced or at a loss, think of homeless or elderly residents, and remember we’re all in this together.