COVID-19 Isolation Housing

When we met this man and his wife, on April 6th, he was shivering on a mattress under a bridge in Tyler. Five days earlier, he had been discharged from a hospital stay for congestive heart failure, rheumatoid arthritis, and a spinal injury. A taxi had taken him home (under the bridge), a mattress just a half mile away from the hospital. Five days later, unable to walk and without a wheelchair, he had no medication, and no plans for follow-up care. Since entering isolation housing, he has a medical home and is taking medications to improve his wellbeing. We continue case management to ensure he is not released back to the streets.

Sheltering in place and washing hands was impossible for him.

We are concerned about the potential for widespread transmission of COVID-19 within the homeless population due to inadequate access to hygiene and sanitation and the difficulty of early detection among a population isolated from health care. Less widely known—but considerably more important—is the extraordinarily high susceptibility to symptomatic infection, hospitalization, and fatality among the homeless population due not only to age, but also the accelerated physical decline and mental weathering that frequently results from repeat exposure to harsh elements.