Long BeachLong Beach will hand out sanitation kits to those who are homeless, and set up new protocols at the Winter Shelter and Multi-Service Center to help protect folks living on the street, as the city fights to prevent the spread of the new coronovirus.
The 125-bed, county-operated Winter Shelter, 1718 Hayes Ave., will also stay until the city’s year-round shelter opens, the first phase of which is slated to do so by June.
The city announced those initiatives and others — including installing soap dispensers, handwashing stations or hand sanitizer stations throughout Long Beach — Sunday afternoon, March 15.
“The city of Long Beach has been working diligently to take proactive precautions to prepare for a potential outbreak (of coronavirus) among people experiencing homelessness,” said Teresa Chandler, interim deputy city manager. “The city’s Homeless Services Division has been monitoring best practices across the nation to ensure the Long Beach utilizes preventative measures across the homeless services system of care.”
The city has prepared quarantine and isolation locations to place people who are homeless and have possibly contracted the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. The city will pay those costs. And the MSC has a place for people to self-isolate if they think they may be infected or are showing signs of the disease
COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019, is caused by a virus named SARS-CoV-2. Symptoms associated with the respiratory disease, which appear two-to-14 days after exposure, include fever, a cough and shortness of breath. While most people — including healthy young adults — will experience mild symptoms, the disease can be severe and possibly fatal for at-risk groups, such as the elderly and those with other health problems.
Those who are homeless are among those at high risk should they get the virus.
And on Friday, Long Beach reported its first case of possible community spread.
The city’s measures to protect the homeless, though, starts with training employees, Chandler said. That way, she added, they know the basic measures to prevent illness transmission while providing services.
Outreach workers, including the Police Department’s Quality of Life Officers, and the Fire Department’s HEART team, have been working to teach homeless people how to recognize symptoms of COVID-19 and coaching them on what to do if they start experiencing those symptoms. Education includes providing flyers and having direct conversations with people.
The Winter Shelter and Multi-Service Center will frequently disinfect touched objects, provide masks to clients who are coughing, install hand sanitizer and hand-washing stations to ensure good hygiene, and post educational signage in multiple languages, Long Beach said in a statement. Shower services remain available with social distancing protocols in place.
Chandler also said the city has reached out to the Long Beach Rescue Mission, Mental Health America, Catholic Charities, among others, to educate them about preventing the virus from spreading. Those providers have altered operations to protect their workers, but have committed to continuing services as well, she added.
The Rescue Mission, for example, is no longer allowing drop-offs for lunch. But staff members are distributing boxed lunches to homeless people. The city, for its part, is urging other agencies to do the same, Chandler said.
“This public health crisis is the city’s number one priority,” Chandler said, “and we continue to work tirelessly to ensure the safety for all community members (including the homeless) is addressed.”
