SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – The city of San Francisco is preparing in case the coronavirus takes hold on the homeless population.
RV’s have been rented in case the unsheltered needs to be isolated.
In order to promote proper hygiene for the homeless who often do not have access to running water, hand washing stations have been put up around San Francisco for the unsheltered and anyone else needing to clean up.
One San Franciscan says, “This is a great idea.”
One of the representatives from the city’s department of emergency management showed off inside one of the 30 RV’s being leased as a place to put the homeless or those living in group settings like navigation centers navigation centers or single room occupancy hotels, in the event they catch the coronavirus.
It would be for those not sick enough for hospitalization, but still needing to be isolated.
The city has leased RV’s until June at the cost of $440 thousand dollars.
The city is also looking into other solutions in case they need to quarantine members of the unsheltered population who might have coronavirus, but do not show signs that they’ve been infected.
“For people who need self quarantine the city is exploring leasing rooms and asking our hotel providers and renting out hotel rooms for people who are asymptomatic, but have been exposed to someone who has been a confirmed case of COVID-19,” said the city’s representative.
The homeless population could be very vulnerable to the coronavirus, since a large percentage are older with underlying medical concerns.
The city says they’ve been reaching out to keep tabs on them with the street medicine teams conducting wellness checks.
The representative added, “Taking temperatures figure out if people need to come in and be tested. Or if you’re not feeling well we continue to do that outreach making sure our city is focused on our most vulnerable residence.”
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