Why the homeless, 'surviving the best way they can,' are vulnerable to coronavirus

https://news.yahoo.com/why-homeless-surviving-best-way-114343597.html

Chris Woodyard
,USA TODAY•March 14, 2020

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"People experiencing homelessness not only have a set of challenges that make it really hard to do what we ask – stay home when you are sick, wash your hands frequently, talk to your medical provider if you are feeling ill – but they are in worse health than many other people," Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County's director of public health, told reporters.

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The destitute often live in crowded encampments where the bathroom is an alley. Trash in the vicinity can attract rats and fleas.

Disease in the encampments can spread quickly and easily. In Los Angeles alone, the homeless and those who care for them have had to deal with outbreaks of hepatitis A and typhus, even before coronavirus arrived.

"Right now, at a minimum, people living on the streets need access to basic services like water and sanitation," said Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty.

Los Angeles County had 44,214 people classified as unsheltered in last year's official homeless count, up 12% from the previous year. They may be living in a tent, a car or simply sleeping out in the open.

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Also lacking: education about the virus, officially designated COVID-19.

"I am not aware of it because I don't get the info," said Kevin Scott, also 61. Instead, he said, homeless people are "surviving the best way they can."

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Not only is serving basic needs of homeless by night an issue during the crisis, but by day as well. More public libraries are temporarily shutting due to the coronavirus. Some of them are in cities that have numbers of people on the street, including Santa Monica and San Francisco in California; Seattle; and New York City.