Stanislaus County in talks with four hotels to isolate coronavirus patients
By mid-next week, the Stanislaus County Office of Emergency Services expects to have agreements with several hotels/motels to both isolate those who have tested positive for COVID-19 and separate the at-risk population that is still healthy.
Raj Singh, spokesman for OES, said officials are now in talks with at least four hotels/motels in Modesto, Turlock and Salida.
They will serve mostly the homeless population, both sheltered and unsheltered, and those living in care facilities.
They could also be used to separate sick people from at-risk people living in the same home. The at-risk population includes those with certain underlying conditions and those over the age of 65.
The hotel or motel for the sick will not be turned into a hospital setting; it is just intended to isolate people with mild symptoms while they recover.
There will, however, be medical personnel available to monitor symptoms and make arrangements to move people to hospitals as necessary.
Scenic Drive facility being evaluated
The OES continues to evaluate the logistics of using the former county hospital on Scenic Drive should the county’s five hospitals become overwhelmed, and is also looking at a warehouse space.
Governor Gavin Newsom authorized $150 million in emergency funding to help protect the homeless population, which he said is among the most vulnerable in this pandemic. $50 million was designated to lease rooms in hotels, motels, and other facilities as well as purchase travel trailers.
Singh said the OES has no plans to purchase trailers.
Apart from those who meet the criteria to go into one of hotels or motels, “We are not sheltering the unsheltered but we are going to provide them with hand wash stations, sanitary supplies and equipment to help protect themselves,” he said.
The OES is working with homeless advocates to determine where to set up hand-washing stations and how best to dispatch supplies.
While there have been no reports of homeless shelter clients testing positive for the virus as of Tuesday, shelter operators are braced for it.
“I am waiting for the day; maybe it is coming this week,” said Maj. Harold Laubach of the Salvation Army, which operates two shelters in Modesto serving up to 388 homeless.
“I know that there are shelters all over the country that already have COVID-19 positive people inside,” he said. “We are doing everything we can to slow it down but we assume it is going to happen” here, too.
Salvation Army facility
It’s impossible to meet 6-foot social distancing guidelines in shelters like the Salvation Army’s, where beds are 3-feet apart.
But Laubach said Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials told him increasing the distance between the beds at the expense of pushing some people back onto the streets would only exacerbate the problem.
“If you have a sheltered population that stays inside the building, the CDC treats it as a family inside a house, as long as everyone stays in the house and is clean and healthy,” he said. “Social distancing is not as much as a focus unless you are letting outside people in.”
The Berberian shelter, which normally closes during the day, last week began not only allowing but urging people to stay at the facility and only leave for medical appointments or work. The low barrier shelter already allowed all-day access.
Laubach said about three-quarters of the population is complying with the request to stay inside or on the shelter grounds. “We are still in a democracy,” he said.
Taking precautions with COVID-19
A handful of clients have gone to hospitals in recent weeks with coughs and fevers but returned with diagnoses like pneumonia. Clients exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 must provide proof of negative tests or of recent isolation before being admitted back into the shelter. The same goes for new clients, although there are few of those as both shelters are now operating capacity.
There is a space at the Berberian shelter for people to recover from illness apart from everyone else, but Laubach said if anyone were to test positive for COVID-19 there is nowhere at either shelter to truly isolate them.
The Gospel Mission on Yosemite Boulevard, however, has designated a stand-alone building on its campus to isolate as many as 20 people. Executive Director Jason Conway said he would work with Laubach to accommodate Salvation Army clients if the need arises.
The space, until last week, housed people who were in the first 30 days of its residential addiction treatment program, as well as those recently discharged from hospital and in need of medical respite. He said those services are still being offered but have been moved.
On Tuesday it was empty but Conway said, “We want to plan for the worst case and hopefully we won’t have to activate it.”
This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
