Nine Cases of Coronavirus Among L.A.’s Homeless as Illness Spreads

There are nine confirmed cases of coronavirus among the homeless population in Los Angeles as of Thursday — nearly double the total reported the day before — as the illness continues to spread, city officials said.

The spread has forced some homeless shelters to quarantine residents — or the entire shelter.

The Los Angeles Times reported:

There are nine confirmed cases of coronavirus among Los Angeles’ homeless population, said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, at her Thursday media briefing.

This is up from five the day before and comes as the city and county attempt to more aggressively test in places like skid row. Ferrer said it was challenging to know exactly where in the county these homeless people had been, but so far there had been no clustering of cases.

…

“If we’re able to, we quarantine at the shelter everybody who’s been exposed. And sometimes, at a smaller shelter, that could mean we’re quarantining the entire facility,” Ferrer said. “But we also will go in and identify who are the people most vulnerable, who had an exposure, and we move those people to an isolated site for them to serve out their quarantine. ”

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti continues to implement his plan to move homeless people to recreation centers in residential areas — despite the higher risk of spreading the virus indoors and CDC guidelines advising against clearing homeless encampments during the outbreak. The mayor continued to tout his plan this week.

In addition, the Times reported, the city made nearly 500 rooms available for people who needed to self-quarantine — including 112 trailers at Dockweiler State Beach. Currently, 10% of the rooms are occupied.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.