Chicago launches effort to protect homeless from coronavirus

Chicago has launched an effort to reduce transmission and increase treatment of COVID-19 among the city’s homeless population.

Scheduling nurses to visit homeless shelters, building a new care network with community-based providers, and distributing personal protective equipment (PPE) among shelter residents and staff are components of a plan outlined in a press release issued April 13 by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office.

“Residents experiencing homelessness cannot simply close their doors to this disease, and that’s why we have rapidly escalated our citywide system to prevent transmission … and ultimately save lives,” said the Mayor. “This pandemic has all too clearly revealed the chasms in our society and serves as a wake-up call on the life-and-death urgency of closing the gaps in equity and opportunity now, and in the months and years to come.”

Department of Public Health (CDPH) Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady and Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) Commissioner Lisa Morrison Butler joined the Mayor to announce the plan during the Mayor’s daily coronavirus briefing on April 13.

The press release also specified a number of benefits that will be produced by organizations contributing to the citywide effort. Among them:

• “With support from the University of Illinois Health and Rush University Medical Center, more than 700 shelter residents and staff receive testing for COVID-19 each week.”
• “In partnership with the YMCA of Metro Chicago and the Salvation Army, DFSS (has) opened temporary shelter sites with a total of 699 beds.”
• “The DFSS Homeless Outreach Prevention team “regularly visits encampments across the city to assess safety and nutritional needs, identify locations that require cleaning, and respond to requests for shelter (and)has also installed 12 portable washrooms and hand-washing stations at encampments with more than 10 people.”

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Additionally, the City of Chicago – along with A Safe Haven, Rush University Medical Center and Heartland Alliance – has opened a100-bed isolation facility to address the needs of people who test positive for COVID-19 and also require support for mental health and substance use.

To read the full release, click here.