A great issue many of us might not think about because it does not affect us is homelessness. I have taken a recent interest in health care provided for the homeless which led me to how they are handling the global pandemic. We have all been battling issues surrounding Covid 19 and all kinds of new policies, but we tend to not think about other’s situations if they do not relate to us and our predicaments. One of my favorite concepts we learned early on in the semester that I have seen in just about everything we have encountered thus far is Adichie’s single story. This concept applies up and down homelessness. We often times have assumptions of people asking for change on the street and make up our stories on how they got there versus really knowing their story.
There have been many major cities and their attempts to help those and provide safe and effective places for these people to reside. The concern of the current shelters is how easily the infectious disease can spread within these small, overcrowded places. With that being said, it presents an issue to continue to do things the way they have been done. This pushed these cities to think outside the box to attempt to come up with a better solution. Unfortunately, I do not agree that these “safer” solutions are better for them. We see in this picture how Las Vegas provided these squares to aide in the social distancing concept. Other cities such as San Francisco have rented RV’s to have a place for those who tested positive to quarantine that do not require hospitalization. This idea is more appealing to me because they are providing these people with more of the resources they lack and are in need of.
Homeless people sleep in a temporary parking lot shelter at Cashman Center, with spaces marked for social distancing to help slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Steve Marcus TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
I personally learned that homeless people are actually more at risk for contracting this disease because of the lack of a consistent place to stay and all that they are exposed to leading them to have weaker immune systems. We see in this short video that it took a pandemic for cities and their representatives to do things they should have been doing all along regarding our homeless citizens. Helping them is important for our healthcare systems as well. If we are able to keep them safe and prevent Covid 19 from spreading then that will alleviate the need for healthcare for them that they cannot afford to begin with. This also will allow for more available resources for people who are positive and in need of hospitalization. I think we can all agree if we have learned anything from the last year it is that we need to all look out for each other and not forget we are all human and we all have needs that we can pitch in and help one another.
Price, M. (2020, March 31). Las Vegas MARKING parking places for homeless encampment. Retrieved March 27, 2021, from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/las-vegas-marking-parking-places-for-homeless-encampment
Respite centers for homeless are a critical component of the health care system. (n.d.). Retrieved March 27, 2021, from https://nhchc.org/press/council-in-the-news/
I agree this is a systematic injustice because the pandemic was impossible to prepare for, especially for the homeless. I do feel that homeless people probably have a very strong immune system, however they may not be able to afford masks and other forms of protection. Another huge problem is that if they do contract COVID it would be very difficult for them quarantine as they do not have their own space.