Tucson moves some homeless into hotels to decrease coronavirus spread

In an effort to prevent a surge of coronavirus cases through one of Tucson’s most-vulnerable populations, city officials have started moving members of the homeless community who might be showing virus symptoms or are at risk of contracting it into a pair of undisclosed hotels.

Thirty-three people — 22 falling into the at-risk category and 11 who were displaying symptoms — were moved out of homeless shelters or off the streets and into the two hotels on Friday, according to Liz Morales, director of the city’s housing and development department.

“We know they are high-risk and so many of them do have other underlying conditions because with their homelessness status they have not been able to take care of their health conditions,” Morales said. “They are definitely much more vulnerable to this.”

She added that the hotels help the homeless community adhere to guidelines from the U.S. Centers and Disease Control and Prevention to help slow the spread of the virus, including social distancing.

Read more: https://tucson.com/news/local/tucson-moves-some-homeless-into-hotels-to-decrease-coronavirus-spread/article_faaea331-8623-5a87-9cc2-17b6d60b9a01.html