Protecting the Homeless from Covid-19 Pandemic

As published by Crain Chicago Business, by William J. Booker, July 17, 2020. 

In the wake of the coronavirus, the homeless are caught in the crosshairs of a pandemic with nowhere to turn. Although the covid-19 pandemic is a public health crisis, killing hundreds of thousands of people, homelessness in America has been a public health crisis for centuries. 

People living on the streets are more susceptible to covid-19 because of their weakened immune systems. This may be one reason why America is unable to bring the number of infected cases down. 

"All over the country staff in homeless shelters are testing positive for covid-19, and as more people become homeless due to job closures the number of infected cases will go up. Universal testing in shelters is crucial, as well as the right to housing during the covid-19 pandemic."

  

The government must simply do more to protect the homeless. Lucky, some states are starting to allocate millions to help mitigate the pandemic’s impact on the homeless and preventing people from losing their homes. Although Republican lawmakers want to spend trillions of taxpayer dollars on fighting covid-19, nothing in their package will be included for helping the homeless population who are on the frontline and have nowhere to go. 

President Trump's denial of science, and the expert advice from his own health officials is literally killing Americans. If protecting hospital's from lawsuits is more important than protecting the homeless from the coronavirus, where does any of us stand a chance in surviving this crisis, or any of the back-deals being made in Washington? 

It's obvious to me the swamp still needs to be drained. In short, "We the People" stands for all the people no matter who they are--or where they live.