Amid widening coronavirus outbreak, here’s how Whatcom homeless advocates are preparing
As Whatcom County organizations prepare for the threat of the new coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, here’s a look at what Lighthouse Mission Ministries and other homeless advocates are doing.
Lighthouse Mission is a faith-based organization that provides overnight emergency shelter to those who are homeless at its Drop-In Center, 1013 W. Holly St. in Bellingham. It also provides transitional housing.
In all, it serves 231 men, women and children each day.
Coronavirus is spread through contact between people within 6 feet of each other — what’s known as close contact — especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it’s possible to catch COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath, which may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. Although 80% of the cases have been mild, the disease is especially dangerous for the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
Here are the steps Hans Erchinger-Davis, executive director of Lighthouse Mission Ministries, said were being taken now to curb the transmission of COVID-19.
“We’re taking it real seriously, of course,” said Erchinger-Davis of the threat of coronavirus, adding that Lighthouse Mission was working closely with the Whatcom County Health Department.
Even before the coronavirus, Lighthouse Mission was already “highly sensitized to concerns around viruses and disease,” Erchinger-Davis said.
Because of the coronavirus, “we’re extra on-point,” he said.
Its Drop-In Center provides emergency shelter to the homeless each night. On Tuesday night, March 3, it had 146 people sleeping on mats there.
To prevent the spread of germs in the transitory population served at the Drop-In Center, those mats are disinfected daily. The blankets used in the Drop-In Center are washed each day in hot water as well, according to Erchinger-Davis.
Hand sanitizers have been put out for people to use and hand-washing recommendations have been posted at all public sinks, he added, and handles that people touch are often wiped down.
The toiletry kits Lighthouse Mission hands out to those who are homeless usually have soap, Erchinger-Davis said.
Public health officials have said that washing hands often with soap and water — for at least 20 seconds — is one way that people can protect themselves against COVID-19. If they can’t do that, then people are being urged to use a hand sanitizer.
At its Agape Home, which provides transitional housing to 50 women and children and where people stay for longer periods, linens are washed weekly.
Workers are being encouraged to wash their hands often and avoid touching their faces. If they’re feeling sick, they’re being told to stay home. Instead of shaking hands, they’re doing elbow bumps or fist bumps, according to Erchinger-Davis.
Those are the other steps public health officials are urging.
They were trying to get more hand sanitizers, he said, but it’s sold out everywhere.
If someone develops serious health issues, Lighthouse Mission will get them to the hospital, he said.
Opportunity Council’s Homeless Outreach Team doesn’t work in large groups. It works more one-on-one and already keeps some distance, according to Mike Parker, director of the Whatcom Homeless Service Center.
The HOT Team also is not shaking hands and if they find someone who is ill, Parker said, they ask them if they need to go to the doctor.
The Opportunity Council’s temporary winter shelter for women in a locker room at Civic Stadium on behalf of the city of Bellingham is no longer open.
Erchinger-Davis said what Lighthouse Mission Ministries offered was a home for people who can’t go somewhere else easily.
Schools can shut down, he said, “but we don’t have that luxury because where are people going to go?”
“That will be the challenge if it hits us,” Erchinger-Davis said.
