In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, advocates for people experiencing homelessnes worried that outbreaks of the virus would sweep through homeless communities and put already vulnerable people in grave danger. The early months went better than many feared, but now, according to a report in the Los Angeles Times, L.A. officials are dealing with “a sudden surge in the spread of the disease through the homeless shelter system.” The county was seeing an average of 60 new cases of Covid-19 per week among people experiencing homelessness through the fall, according to the report. Those numbers doubled during the week after Thanksgiving, the report says, and in the most recent week, reached 547 new cases.
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The day after Christmas, Dr. Heidi Behforouz, medical director for L.A. County’s Housing for Health program, sent out a call of distress.
People living in skid row shelters were being diagnosed with dozens of new cases of COVID-19, and Behforouz needed a place to send them quickly to isolate.
The call went to the Rev. Andrew J. Bales, chief executive of the Union Rescue Mission, which before the pandemic had erected a large tent behind its five-story building on skid row to make room for more people without a home.
“We were able to make yet 1 more chess move against this Monster Genius Covid,” Bales said in an email to The Times. “We moved our men inside to 2nd floor and handed over keys last Sunday.”
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As the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged communities, public health experts worried about the deadly consequences for homeless people sleeping on the streets.
It’s a group rife with other health problems that could make it especially susceptible to the easily transmissible coronavirus. In the spring, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautioned against disruptions such as clearing encampments, which could increase the potential for spreading the disease.
On Monday, a coalition of lawyers and advocates for homeless people complained that the city of Los Angeles was ignoring that advice by cleaning camps, putting people in encampments throughout the city at heightened risk.
LA increases homeless camp cleanups. CDC says unhoused people should stay in place Sanitation workers after clearing a homeless encampment in Wilmington last week. Photo by Anna Scott.
Last week LA expanded an effort to clear and clean homeless encampments throughout the city, despite advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to allow people experiencing homelessness to shelter in place if individual housing is not available.
City officials say that growing encampments pose serious health risks besides COVID-19 to people within and outside them. Officials say the cleanups, which include outreach workers and mobile showers, are meant to provide services to unhoused people rather than punishment.