During two days in federal court this week, Denver officials and a group of homeless individuals who ve sued the city painted vastly different pictures of homeless encampment sweeps during the COVID-19 pandemic. I think the presence of encampments is a complex and very difficult issue. I don’t think there’s a clear right and wrong answer in how we handle this complex problem, Bill Burman, director of Denver Public Health, testified.
The evidentiary hearing stemmed from a lawsuit filed in October by Andy McNulty of Killmer, Lane & Newman LLC on behalf of Denver Homeless Out Loud and ten homeless plaintiffs against the City of Denver, the State of Colorado and a contractor that works with the city on homeless encampment sweeps. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises municipalities not to sweep encampments during the pandemic, to avoid furthering the spread of COVID-19; the plaintiffs want Denver to stop the sweeps for the duration of the pandemic.
The data comes from a report submitted by the City and County of Denver in response to a federal lawsuit it s facing over homeless encampment sweeps during the pandemic. People experiencing homelessness are two to four times more likely to have diabetes, cardiovascular disease and respiratory conditions. All of those can make it much more likely that COVID is going to impact them negatively, says Gregory Whitman, a public health physician who will be testifying in court on behalf of the plaintiffs suing Denver over homeless encampment sweeps.
But while those living outdoors may be in a vulnerable position, shelters aren t necessarily safer during a pandemic. We’re continuing to see pretty consistently lower rates in the encampments, says Rowan. When we tested in the summer at the city’s request, we found that one encampment near Stout Street Health Center had no cases of COVID out of fifty. When we tested in encampments in front of the Capitol and around Morey Middle Scho