‘Overflow’ at Charlotte’s COVID quarantine hotel as outbreak hits homeless shelter
Even after months of increased cleanings, symptom screenings and social distancing measures, the virus got in.
Cases of COVID-19 at Roof Above’s men’s shelter in Charlotte rose to 87, county health officials said Friday, with all but two cases among residents. Days earlier, the outbreak had been reported with just five known cases at the shelter on North Tryon Street, according to the health department.
Before the outbreak, Roof Above had already spaced out sleeping areas, increased cleaning and switched meals to a bagged lunch model. But the nature of shelter services makes keeping the virus at bay a challenge said Randall Hitt, chief engagement officer for Roof Above.
“Preventing COVID is about not being around anybody,” Hitt said. “So you’re taking a place that you’re just naturally around people and trying to put up all the right protocols.”
In response to the outbreak, the shelter has moved the roughly 200 men staying at its North Tryon location into hotel rooms “for the foreseeable future,” Hitt said.
It is the third Charlotte shelter to experience a large outbreak in recent months, an experience leaders say they have worked for months to prevent while acknowledging the difficulties of close quarters and vulnerable residents who have limited access to health care and other necessary services.
The number of outbreaks seen in congregate settings — like the county jail, nursing homes and other live-in facilities — grew in December and January in Mecklenburg, alongside a second wave of coronavirus infections, the Observer has previously reported.
And as the outbreaks continue, Mecklenburg officials say the county’s isolation hotel is in “overflow,” while access to widespread vaccinations in North Carolina shelters is still weeks, if not months away.
Vaccine access
Congregate facilities have been of particular concern for public health experts.
Nearly half of the deaths in Mecklenburg County have been tied to a congregate living setting, mostly in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said vaccine priority should begin with health care workers and those living in long term care facilities like nursing homes. CDC guidance says local and state public health leaders are “now working on how to further distribute COVID-19 vaccines in a fair, ethical, and transparent way for additional groups, including considerations for people experiencing homelessness.”
But in North Carolina, current age restrictions on getting a shot mean only a portion of people living in homeless shelters are eligible for the vaccine.
People under 65 and living in homeless shelters are in group 4 for vaccinations, said Sarah Lewis Peel, communications manager for the NC Department of Health and Human Services, and are designated as “adults at high risk for exposure and increased risk of severe illness.”
Groups 1 and 2 — health care workers with in-person patient contact, long-term care staff and residents, and people 65 and older — are currently eligible for vaccines.
“The NC prioritization framework has been designed to save lives and slow the spread of COVID-19,” Peel wrote in an email. “To ensure equitable access to vaccines, vaccine providers need to act intentionally to reach underserved and historically marginalized populations in each group.”
County health officials previously announced plans to vaccinate people living in area shelters and residents of Inlivian, Charlotte’s housing authority. On Friday, Dr. Meg Sullivan, Mecklenburg’s medical director said those had begun for those 65 and older who already qualify for the vaccine under North Carolina guidelines.
“It has not been an overwhelmingly large number,” she said of the number of people in shelters who have been vaccinated, but said the county is doing outreach to those organizations “and will continue to do so.”
Until the vaccine is available to broader groups, including more congregate living spaces like homeless shelters, Hitt said it’s important to educate residents and staff about the vaccine and encourage them to get it when they qualify.
Hotel capacity
In Charlotte, shelter providers have taken steps to mitigate risk of spreading the virus, though several facilities have experienced outbreaks.
Complicating things, however, was that many who tested positive were asymptomatic, Hitt said, which wouldn’t be caught during screenings for common COVID-19 indicators such as fever, fatigue or loss of taste and smell.
An outbreak at the Charlotte Rescue Mission, reported last month, peaked at 51 cases — 46 among residents and five among staff members. No new cases have been detected in about two weeks, said spokeswoman Sarah Ann Schultz. The 120-day drug and alcohol treatment program predominantly serves people who are homeless.
Residents who were recovering in the county’s isolation hotel have returned to the rescue mission facility, though new admissions are still paused, she said.
“Everyone has recovered really well and none of our cases are too extreme so we were really fortunate in that regard,” Schultz said.
And in November, staff at the Salvation Army Center of Hope, which primarily serves women and children, responded to an outbreak that sickened 45 people and moved families into hotel rooms. It was taken off the county’s active outbreak list in mid-December.
As Roof Above moved residents out of the shelter, Mecklenburg Health Director Gibbie Harris said late last week the county isolation hotel was “in overflow status.”
County officials leased the hotel in March for people who are homeless or otherwise do not have a place to isolate if they are exposed to or contract the virus. Roof Above has found additional hotel rooms to house men moving out of the Tryon Street shelter.
Mecklenburg officials have not responded to questions from the Observer about any plans to lease additional isolation hotels or extend the current lease, which is expected to continue through March.
Hitt, of Roof Above, said they’ve found additional hotel rooms for people to stay through existing relationships with hotels made during the pandemic.
Because there is less contact with other people by design when moving people to hotels, Hitt said they are getting track phones to make sure they check on people’s symptoms and, if needed, refer them to a nurse through a partnership with Atrium.
“It’s not just a motel room to quarantine,” he said. “(For) people who have COVID, usually, your hope is they have a support network or somebody’s checking on them or that they have access to professional (care) so that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Roof Above updates
▪ People seeking shelter are still able to do so at Roof Above’s emergency winter shelter, located at 3410 Statesville Ave.
▪ Donation drop-offs are temporarily halted at the Tryon Street location. Visit Roofabove.org for information and updates about donations and how to give.
This story was originally published February 2, 2021 at 10:54 AM.
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