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KPBS Midday Edition

Homeless shelters navigate latest COVID surge

Quarlo "Q" McSwain, a case manger and supervisor for Alpha Project, at the opening of a new 44-bed shelter for San Diegans who are homeless and have mental illness and addiction challenges, Dec. 15, 2021.
Matthew Bowler
Quarlo "Q" McSwain, a case manger and supervisor for Alpha Project, at the opening of a new 44-bed shelter for San Diegans who are homeless and have mental illness and addiction challenges, Dec. 15, 2021.

San Diego area homeless shelters have seen a rise in coronavirus cases. They're trying to quickly isolate those affected to minimize outbreaks.

Voice of San Diego's Lisa Halverstadt joined Midday Edition on Monday to talk about the efforts local shelters are taking to fight recent outbreaks and to talk about some of the unique challenges they face.

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Local city shelters are seeing about 50 new cases per week in recent weeks, Halverstadt said, and finding the space to quickly isolate those who test positive has been difficult. Hotel rooms that were relied on earlier in the pandemic have been hard to come by.

"Omicron is a real challenge. But it's even more of a challenge with a very vulnerable population staying in city shelters that also happens to be in a congregate setting," Halverstadt said.