Many homeless individuals (as pictured above) are unable to follow CDC guidelines due to the lack of access to necessary materials and facilities. This puts them at an increased risk to catch the COVID-19 virus and spread it to others within the community (Photo courtesy of Russ Allison Loar/Creative Commons).
By now, we are all well acquainted with the rules and regulations of the COVID-19 virus: stay six feet away from others, wear a mask, and wash your hands frequently or use hand sanitizer. The list goes on and on. All these practices have become second nature to us. We just do them instinctively now—well, hopefully. We know how the coronavirus has affected us as college students, but how does it affect people dealing with homelessness?
One of the first struggles I personally think of for the homeless population is the lack of funding to purchase newly required materials such as masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant. As soon as the Center of Disease Control released safety guidelines, prices and availability of these items were impacted. The price of the items rose significantly from their original amount. People who are homeless already have limited funds, so the increase in price makes hand sanitizer, for example, a luxury.
Some masks are also expensive, and if they are a decent price, they are extremely difficult to find. With prices being so high for sanitation and other prevention products, it is hard for homeless individuals to prioritize the purchase of these products over food and water. Without these items readily available to the homeless, they are at higher risk of catching the virus.
The second obstacle is sanitation. Many businesses have closed their bathrooms to the public, causing a new problem for people without shelter. Many homeless people rely on the use of public facilities to maintain cleanliness. With these facilities no longer available, it makes it harder for them to keep clean.
I know you may be thinking, “why don’t they just go to a shelter?” Well, there is a constant high demand of admittance to the shelters in general. In the times of COVID, they have kept their doors open, but most of the shelters have reached capacity. Due to the lack of sanitation available, they are also put at higher risk.
Thirdly, the homeless are exposed to many people every day. There are thousands of people living in the streets, subway systems and other public areas of New York City, according to the Coalition for the Homeless. Think about it, most people in New York City do not own cars; they walk everywhere. Anytime a person walks by another, it is considered exposure. The homeless are being exposed to at least hundreds of people a day. That is probably more than you are exposed to at Geneseo in almost a week.
Additionally, if a displaced person were to start experiencing symptoms, they might not have access to testing. According to the CDC, people have access to COVID-19 testing through their healthcare provider. This is great, but it could pose a problem for some because they may not have the funds to see a healthcare provider or they may not live near a free clinic.
Many of the tests that are now available are free, but some are not and free tests can be hard to locate. Plus, if a person in this community were to be diagnosed with COVID-19, where would they quarantine and where would they recover? There are many unknowns for this population at this time.
The homeless population already faces so many obstacles, and this is just another drop in the bucket. Next time you are in the store, if you have the funds, pick up an extra hand sanitizer or mask and give it to someone in need. We can help our fellow humans by following COVID-19 guidelines, thus allowing us to flatten the curve and control this pandemic.