Why Housing The Homeless In The Age Of Covid-19 Is Essential – Forbes

Homeless people make shelters on the sidewalk in front of the Midnight Mission at Skid Row in ... [+] downtown Los Angeles, California on March 19, 2020. - The US government is now preparing for 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic, including multiple waves of illnesses. The ominous announcement comes after cases in the US spiked 40% in just 24 hours. (Photo by Apu GOMES / AFP) (Photo by APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)

In many parts of the country, some of us have become so accustomed to seeing homeless people aroundin tents, begging at intersections, sleeping in downtown doorwaystheyve almost become part of the landscape, ever-present yet barely noticed.

Its time to notice. Because in the public health emergency created by the novel coronavirus, we truly are all in this together. And caring about what happens to a half million strangers with no place to go, whether out of compassion or pragmatism, must be part of the national response to this virus.Its not far-fetched to call helping the homeless get safely inside one of the keys to both physical and economic survival. Here's why.

Preliminary research suggests SARS-CoV2, the name of the virus that causes Covid-19, might linger in the air as an aerosol even after an infected person has left a room. Might that be enough to infect the next person to enter the room? Possibly. There isn't enough data yet to know for sure. It can hang around for days on the ubiquitous plastics that seem to define modern life. Keeping six feet away from others is better than nothing but not by much, which is one reason why governors of most states have told their residents to stay home.

Thats mandatory, in many places. But what about those who dont have homes? Beleaguered officials in places with huge homeless populations, like the San Francisco Bay area, and Portland, Oregon, have exempted homeless people from shelter-in-place orders. That doesnt, however, exempt them from getting and spreading the virus.

NEW YORK, NY APRIL 02: Medical workers wait for patients at a special coronavirus intake area at ... [+] Maimonides Medical Center in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn which has seen an upsurge of coronavirus patients on April 02, 2020 in New York City. Hospitals in New York City, which has been especially hard hit by the coronavirus, are facing shortages of beds, ventilators and protective equipment for medical staff. Currently, over 75,000 New Yorkers have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Miriam Komaromy, MD, Medical Director of the Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center, which treats a significant number of homeless patients, says that to get Covid-19 under control, its essential to get the unhoused inside, where they, too, can self-isolate. That means on the other side of a door they can shut behind them. Not left on the streets. Not in tents. Not in homeless shelters.

People in shelters are typically crowded together and so are breathing aerosolized and droplet secretions from each other, she explains. They are also touching the same surfaces, and so are infecting each other via touching surfaces contaminated by respiratory droplets.

This virus spreads by stealthespecially in places where people gather in close proximity. In Washington state, 60 singers got together for choir practice. They didnt exchange their usual hugs and no one had symptoms. Within days, 28 had tested positive for Covid-19, another 17 became sick but werent tested, and two people died. After a late February funeral in Georgia, dozens of mourners fell ill with Covid-19. Here too, none had appeared ill at the time of the funeral. In Westport, Connecticut, which didnt have a single known case of the novel coronavirus before a socialites big, glitzy 40th birthday celebration, 85 cases were diagnosed within 11 days of the party. And again, no one had shown up noticeably sick.

So isolating people after fever, coughing, or other signs appear is too late. And that includes homeless people, who have been shown to be particularly susceptible to infectious diseases because of their living conditions.

Dr. Komaromy believes she has an answer. Because of the pandemic, the US has millions of vacated dorm rooms, offices, and hotel rooms. Use these empty spaces to house those without homes, and avert what could lead to ongoing disaster.

Its a brilliant solution, perhaps the only solution. The owners of the empty facilities may well be interested in gaining income if they agree to house people, says Komaromy. But we have found that there is a great deal of resistance from commercial entities such as hotel owners.

The government might not actually have to persuade hoteliers and others (although the federal government, itself, might be the toughest entity to convince). Under the fifth amendment, in time of war or public danger, a temporary taking under eminent domain is a potential option. The government would have to pay rent to take control of the properties needed without taking permanent ownership. Thats a big expenditure, but it just found $2.2 trillion to help save the country from the economic side-effects of the pandemic. How much is it worth to plug a hole in the plan to stop the pandemic, itself?

What might happen if the country decides to ignore that gaping holeas its ignored so many other longstanding issues that Covid-19 has exposed as needing immediate attention?

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - 2020/03/28: Homeless person lays under blanket on street and reads Holy ... [+] Bible in Manhattan. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Hospitals in New York, the current center of the the US pandemic, are already overwhelmed. Elective procedures have been canceled or postponed indefinitelyeven those for cancer.Some hospitals are reported to have imposed do-not-resuscitate orders,without first getting consent, for certain Covid-19 patients.There is simply no way to save everyone.

Homeless people tend to have higher rates of the kinds of chronic conditions that make severe illness with SARS-CoV2and the need for greater medical resourcesmore likely.

The country cant afford to allow large swathes of the population to go unhoused and exposed. It endangers everyone.

Of course, there are other big questions: how does temporarily housing homeless people solve what might be an ongoing emergency? What if the virus mutates and produces variants? If so, could those whove recovered from it, and are presumed to be immune to the current strain, be re-infected? If this is the new normal, must the country fix all the problems its ignored for decades, at once, all while combatting an invisible killer?

It just might.

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