Mar 18, 2020
For those without homes, social distancing might not be possible
Homeless shelters in Portland, Oregon, are being asked to make sure people who are coughing sleep in beds six feet away from those who aren’t.
Raven Drake has been living in a tent on the Western bank of I-5 in North Portland for the last few months. She’s recently set aside a second tent near hers for sick people to isolate themselves.
Jonathan Levinson
Leaders in and around Portland, Oregon are working to mitigate the potentially devastating impact an outbreak of COVID-19 would have among the region’s vulnerable homeless population. They’re sending out outreach teams with amenities like hand sanitizer and soap, keeping emergency winter shelters open into he spring, and they’re asking shelters to create a 6-foot buffer around the bed of every sick person. But finding space for people to recover in crowded shelters is proving difficult; many local shelters say they need to stop taking in new guests in order to make more room.
