Isolation Helps Homeless Population Escape Worst of Virus

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Thu, 2020-12-24 11:06 — mike kraft

... Early in the pandemic, health officials were terrified that the virus would decimate America’s homeless, the half million people who live in shelters or on the streets. As the year comes to a close, those same specialists say they are relieved that street encampments and homeless shelters did not suffer the same devastation as nursing homes.

Experts caution that the transitory nature of homelessness makes it challenging to gather precise data. And they remain anxious because overall rates of the virus soared throughout the fall. A recent outbreak at a shelter in San Diego served as a reminder that homeless populations, especially those sheltered indoors, are still very vulnerable to the dangers of Covid-19.

“It’s been pretty clear in sheltered settings that when infections enter they spread very rapidly,” said Dr. Margot Kushel, the director of the Center for Vulnerable Populations at the University of California, San Francisco.

Still, researchers and public health officials across the country have conducted testing at encampments and homeless shelters, watching for signs of outbreaks. And in places like Seattle and Los Angeles these tests have turned up relatively low rates of infection.

Dr. Helen Chu, an infectious-disease doctor in Seattle, which has one of the nation’s highest rates of homelessness, has helped conduct 2,500 tests in shelters during the pandemic. Only 15 of the tests, less than 1 percent, came back positive for the coronavirus. ...

Experts say that among the reasons for the better-than-expected outcomes are programs in California and New York, the states with the largest homeless populations, to provide thousands of hotel rooms for the most vulnerable homeless people. Hotel rooms are also made available for people experiencing homelessness who exhibit symptoms or come into close contact with those who are infected.

Homeless shelters and encampments are “still a tinderbox for transmission of the virus,” said Dr. Harrison Alter, interim medical director of Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless, across the Bay from San Francisco. “But we set up a system that so far — knock wood — has worked in suppressing viral transmission.” ...

But tracking homeless health outcomes in New York is somewhat easier because a much higher percentage of homeless people live in shelters. And data from there appears to show an increased likelihood of death from the coronavirus among homeless people. ...

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