COVID surge: Outbreaks hit multiple Bay Area homeless shelters
COVID outbreaks are hitting homeless shelters from San Francisco to San Jose as the ultra-contagious Omicron variant continues to spread, sparking renewed fears for the safety of the Bay Area’s thousands of vulnerable unhoused residents.
Omicron, which has become the dominant COVID strain in California, spreads quickly but appears to cause milder symptoms than other variants — particularly in vaccinated people. But experts say the latest case surge in the Bay Area’s homeless community is concerning.among unhoused residents compared to the general public. And homeless patients are more likely to be older and have chronic health conditions, which puts them at heightened risk of severe COVID symptoms if they are infected.
St. Vincent de Paul identified the first COVID case at Division Circle on Dec. 23, and was unable to prevent the virus from spreading to more than half of the shelter’s residents. “Every day we’re getting notifications of here’s another COVID-positive test,” said Andrea Urton, CEO of HomeFirst, which runs the Boccardo shelter. But while case rates at HomeFirst facilities are rising, the organization so far has avoided a large outbreak, she said.
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