Continuing efforts to help the houseless through COVID-19

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While COVID-19 appears to be slowing down in Portland, the weather is getting warmer and mask mandates are no longer enforced. We must remember the vulnerable communities that we live with in our city. Things are slowly “returning to normal” however “normal cannot be achieved without continuing our focus on vaccinating high risk groups and having precautions in place for them. The CDC has shown that houseless individuals are at higher risk. We as a community need to continue our efforts to get these individuals vaccinated as well as keep an eye out to see that they are receiving the care that is necessary.

 Ideas may include, providing community sanitation stations and clean water where there is a larger demographic of houseless individuals. This would alleviate some worries about unsanitary transmission. We as a community should continue our outreach and provide information on food access resources, physical distancing resources and medical resources to their vulnerable individuals.

 It may feel as though COVID-19 has begun to slow down and normalize however that is a luxury for individuals who have the ability to. For many of the vulnerable members of our community it is still a fear and is a rampant problem.

Sources : https://www.multco.us/chair-kafoury/supporting-people-experiencing-homelessness-during-covid-19-crisis

https://endhomelessness.org/fema-response-and-homelessness-during-covid-19/

https://www.multco.us/novel-coronavirus-covid-19/covid-19-guidance-people-experiencing-homelessness-without-shelter

//written by Felix Huang

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