Rampant Asymptomatic COVID-19 in a Homeless Shelter

David Posnett — Wed, 13 May 2020 01:07:56 +0000

I have previously written about “the forgotten” and why Coronavirus infection in these populations affects us all. I am talking about people in prisons, people in nursing homes and people in homeless shelters. Outbreaks of COVID-19 in these populations do not remain contained. They spill into the general population by way of prison wardens, nursing home staff and the homeless populate not only the shelters but also the subways and parks. A similar situation is the captive population on a cruise ship.

To give an idea of the scope of the problem, in the US, 567 715 people were homeless on a single night in January 2019.

In March, 2020, the Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (BHCHP) tested all comers from a single large homeless shelter in Boston (excluding those that were already known to have the virus):

147/408 (36.0%) had a positive PCR test, and 87.8% of them were asymptomatic.

The authors correctly conclude that PCR testing of all asymptomatic shelter residents should be performed when an individual with COVID-19 is identified in the same shelter.

The same reasoning applies to outbreaks in prisons, in nursing homes and on cruise ships!

outbreak – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

Rampant Asymptomatic COVID-19 in a Homeless Shelter