At least 82 people tested for COVID-19 after one case at Base Camp homeless shelter
Two more people connected with the homeless tent encampment at City Hall have tested positive for COVID-19, the Whatcom County Health Department said on Friday, Dec. 4.
They were among the at least 82 people who were tested for the virus after a homeless man who stayed at the encampment, called Camp 210, and at Base Camp, an emergency shelter, tested positive last weekend.
Both sites are in Bellingham.
The health department said the two people who just tested positive will be interviewed by case and contact investigators to identify any close contacts, who will be referred for testing and instructed to quarantine and monitor for symptoms.
All three people have been taken to a former Bellingham motel on Byron Avenue that is serving as a COVID-19 isolation and quarantine center.
“We have a team dedicated to responding to this situation, and are working with organizers of Camp 210,” said Erika Lautenbach, director for the Whatcom County Health Department, in a news release. “We will provide more details as they become available.”
On Friday, Lautenbach urged Camp 210 organizers to implement guidance outlined in the health and safety plan provided by the health department earlier this week, which included universal masking, placing tents at least 12 feet apart to allow for physical distancing and requiring campers to eat meals in their tents.
Lautenbach said campers should use the Bellingham Public Library lawn as a quarantine site for those known to be a close contact of a confirmed case but don’t have symptoms of COVID-19.
Those who do have symptoms should call 360-778-6128 to get a referral for testing and to be relocated to the Byron Avenue facility.
“Given our high level of concern for this vulnerable population, Health Department staff will monitor the conditions and compliance of this guidance by making daily site visits,” the plan states. “If we determine the community measures are not in place to protect the unhoused City Hall campers, and there is a significant or sustained COVID-19 outbreak, we may recommend or require that campers disperse from a single site.”
The health department tested the homeless and employees at Base Camp on Cornwall Avenue on Tuesday, Dec. 1. The next day, they tested people at the tent encampment, which started at City Hall on Lottie Street before expanding across the way into the lawn behind the library.
A total of 32 people were tested at the encampment, according to Amy Cloud, spokesperson for Whatcom Unified Command, adding that people at the site also were offered flu shots.
Cloud said she didn’t have a number for how many people were tested at Base Camp.
That number is more than 50 and was made up of the homeless staying at Base Camp and employees, according to Hans Erchinger-Davis, executive director of Lighthouse Mission Ministries, which operates the emergency shelter.
Base Camp opened July 17 to give up to 200 adults a place to sleep at night. It also provides bathrooms, showers, laundry services, drinking water, food, garbage and recycling containers as well as social services to those staying there.
A total of 157 people were staying there on Sunday night, which was the day after Lighthouse Mission Ministries was notified about the positive test result. That number was 145 on Tuesday night.
“Not all were tested though it was strongly encouraged and recommended,” Erchinger-Davis said of the onsite testing offered by the health department on Tuesday. “It’s voluntary for existing guests — unless having been a close contact, then it’s required. Same with staff.”
When asked for test outcomes, Cloud said on Thursday that “results are not yet completed for everyone who was tested.”
First coronavirus case
The positive case was the first confirmed illness for Base Camp or its predecessor since the start of the pandemic, Lighthouse Mission Ministries said.
In August, it reported that a staff member at Agape Home — the ministry’s shelter for women and children on Holly Street in Bellingham — tested positive for coronavirus.
When it announced the case at Base Camp, the ministry said it believed that the man contracted it at the tent encampment, which formed starting on Nov. 11.
But where he contracted the illness couldn’t be determined, according to Cloud.
“No, we have not identified the exposure of this person. It’s always difficult to pin down exactly where someone was exposed,” she said. “And based on the information we received, we cannot determine where this person contracted the virus.”
In a subsequent explanation, Erchinger-Davis said the man left Base Camp when the tent encampment at City Hall started three weeks ago.
“The guest told us directly that he had been staying there and we hadn’t seen him using Base Camp services since,” he said.
Lighthouse Mission refers to people who use its services as guests.
“For unknown reasons, the guest came into Base Camp Thursday to stay the night,” Erchinger-Davis said. “Symptoms developed overnight and were noticed by staff the following morning. Staff followed our normal protocol for symptomatic persons and recommended testing to the individual. The guest said they were going back to the City Hall camp where they still had a tent. It’s unknown what they did after they left our care.”
At 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 28, PeaceHealth informed the ministry of the man’s positive test, Erchinger-Davis said.
Quarantine and next steps
Meanwhile, people who were connected to the first man who tested positive also were taken to Byron Avenue.
“At this time, fewer than 10 people connected to this confirmed case are staying” at the facility, Cloud said to The Bellingham Herald on Thursday.
As for the next steps, Cloud said: “We’ll be following up with each person who was tested to give them their results. We will provide support and transportation to the IQ (isolation/quarantine) facility for anyone who has tested positive and needs a safe place to isolate.”
“Earlier this week, we shared a health and safety plan with organizers of the camp at City Hall and are asking that they implement safety measures,” she said. “We also continue to work with Base Camp staff to reinforce social distancing and quarantine-like living conditions as much as is possible in this congregate setting.”
Erchinger-Davis said that admittance to Base Camp will be more stringent moving forward.
“We’ve had to restrict access to people that are still a part of the City Hall encampment per health department recommendation,” he said to The Bellingham Herald.
Those who may have had direct contact with an infected person must quarantine for 14 days from the last confirmed case before re-entry, he said, adding that Lighthouse Mission was looking at the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that are suggesting seven days with a test or 10 days from the last symptoms.
“People at the tent encampment are not currently considered quarantined due to its general disarray and lack of structure, but anyone who removes themselves from that encampment will be considered for re-entry to Base Camp after those two weeks and a negative test result,” Erchinger-Davis said.
“Those individuals just need to connect with Base Camp staff prior to voice their intentions,” he said.
This story was originally published December 4, 2020 at 12:13 PM.
