Sheltering in place, social distancing, self-isolation, quarantine – whatever you call it, the measures we take to keep ourselves and others safe from an easily spreading virus aren’t easy, but they are necessary.
For the homeless of the world, however, maintaining the distance required by CDC guidelines is nearly impossible – staying at home is difficult when you don’t have a home – and the resources to lessen the danger of those circumstances are even harder to come by. That’s why one group is going out of its way to at least help with that second issue in the city hit hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic so far.
Backpacks For The Street has been handing out supplies to NYC’s homeless for two years now.
Jeffrey Newman and husband Jayson Conner started the nonprofit out of their apartment, just trying to get things like toiletries, food, and water to the city’s most vulnerable.
However, since the end of March, they’ve added hand sanitizer, masks, gloves, and disinfectant wipes to the backpacks they normally drop off to those in need – and they’ve been working around the clock.
New York City had at least 78,000 homeless people in 2019.
It’s unclear exactly how many have been affected by COVID-19 so far, but the city’s homeless services reported over 600 positive tests and 43 deaths among the homeless population as of April 20, WABC reported.
The city has introduced additional measures to try to stop the spread of the virus in shelters, including spending $200 a night on hotel rooms to isolate homeless people who are symptomatic or who have tested positive for the virus.
Backpacks For The Street are doing their part as well.
Over a period of three weeks, Newman estimates they’ve distributed at least 1,200 backpacks so far. They drive from borough to borough in a rented U-Haul looking for anyone who might need supplies.
“New York’s homeless are probably one of the most vulnerable communities out there and they’re getting the least amount of help,” Newman told Good Morning America . “We’ve been out day and night providing as much COVID-19 supplies as we can on top of our normal stuff.”
Many of the people Newman and the group encounter on the streets have found conditions in the city’s homeless shelters unbearable.
“We got a call from someone at a shelter the other day who said no one there had a mask or gloves on because the shelter didn’t have any,” Newman said. “Three people there had tested positive, so that really inspired us to scale up and get a move on.”
Unfortunately, the need in NYC is great.
And since the economic downturn, it’s only getting worse. One cab driver told Newman that he’d been unable to work because people were too afraid to get into his cab.
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“He told us he had no other choice but to stop since there was no business and now he’s living on the street because no one would get in his car,” Newman said.
The other thing Newman said his group has had to deliver is news.
“There’s a lot of fear out there about staying in shelters and many people living on the streets don’t have access to the internet or television so they’re not up to date on the latest information,” he said.
“The city has great programs for the homeless but there are many reasons why someone might not want to go to a shelter right now. Every bag we deliver can go a long way especially during this crisis.”
h/t: Good Morning America