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San Francisco Department of Public Health data as of April 12, 2020, showed a flattening of new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and Mayor London Breed noted "early success" in containing the pandemic. But she said the outbreak at a homeless shelter shows the danger is not over and urged contained vigilance as stay-at-home orders remained in place. (Screenshot from https://data.sfgov.org/)
April 12, 2020
Catholic San Francisco
San Francisco announced an outbreak at the Multi-Service Center South (MSC South), a city-funded adult shelter operated by the St. Vincent De Paul Society, and the implementation of emergency response plans for the facility.
“From the beginning of this pandemic, one of our biggest concerns has been spread in congregate living situations,” Mayor London Breed said in an April 10 tweet.
“We've seen this happen in countless other places throughout the country. It is now happening at MSC South.”
She said although the city has had "early success" in slowing the spread of the pandemic, "I want to reiterate that we are not out of the woods yet. We've been preparing for situations like this and we're responding. But it is critical that people continue following the Stay at Home Order."
As of April 10, 68 guests and two staff had tested positive for COVID-19, the Department of Public Health announced. The city is continuing to test all guests and staff for COVID-19.
As of the morning of April 10, out of the 144 tests administered, 71 people tested negative and three are pending.
The DPH will be converting the MSC South shelter, the largest homeless shelter in Northern California, into a COVID-19 recovery center to serve COVID-19 positive shelter guests. Medical personnel, including doctors and nurses, have been assigned to the site.
As of Friday morning, as part of the city’s plan to reduce COVID-19 risk, 73 guests had been moved from the facility leaving only 103 guests remaining in the 340-person-capacity shelter.
Other early City actions taken to mitigate COVID-19 exposure risk at congregate facilities included:
-- Stopping all new intakes at MSC South and all congregate shelters on March 24.
-- Relocating guests over 60 years old or in other vulnerable high-risk categories into isolation and quarantine sites.
-- Implementing a shelter health screening tool at all shelters, navigation centers, and transitional housing programs to assess the health of each shelter guest and providing guidelines on how to assist guests who are symptomatic.
-- Enhancing cleaning protocols, meal service, and physical distancing at shelters.
In response to the situation at MSC South, DPH in partnership with the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing is:
-- Continuing contact tracing to assess who has been exposed to the virus.
-- Converting the shelter to a Recovery Center.
-- Deploying extensive and deep cleaning of the congregate space that was exposed.
-- Testing all guests and staff at MSC South for COVID-19 and relocating guests to hotels as indicated by test results.
-- Continuing to assess the situation and adapt the response accordingly.
-- Ensuring that all COVID-19 positive patients are receiving the health care they need.
-- Ensuring that all COVID-19 positive staff have access to isolation and quarantine hotels.