A case of covid-19 infection has been confirmed, and the US media has focused on the health and safety of the street homeless group in the United States

On the 17th, the United States, which has outbreak of new crown pneumonia, reported for the first time a case of street homeless infection, which made the problem of homeless people in the new crown pneumonia epidemic in the United States surface.

According to the US news website Vox reported on the 18th, the homeless person lives in Santa Clara County, California, USA. The number of homeless street dwellers in the county has increased dramatically in recent years. According to official data, from 2017 to 2019, the county's homeless population jumped from 7,394 to 9,706, an increase of more than 30 percent.

According to Vox, street wandering isn't just a problem in the California Bay Area. According to the National Coalition to End Homelessness, there were more than 552,800 street people in the United States in 2018, 33% of whom were families with children.

In cities such as Los Angeles, although crowd gatherings have been banned due to the pandemic, streeters remain stranded on the streets due to homelessness, gathering in tent camps and lacking privacy and distance from each other. According to the Los Angeles Times, on the 17th, homeless people in Los Angeles were asked not to use such tents during the day.

This exposes them further to the risk of contracting and contracting the new crown virus. However, shelters are in full use and public places such as libraries are closed. Although the government plans to provide homeless camps with handwashing stations, portable toilets and weekly shower points, it is still difficult to ensure the health and safety of homeless people during the epidemic.

Vox reports that work and funding at the federal level in the United States are still not enough to deal with such a situation. In the $8.3 billion pandemic response bill recently passed by the U.S. Congress, there is no money earmarked for the homeless. Diane Yentel, president of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, said: "When we are in a public health emergency, our collective health depends on the ability to stay at home, which makes the housing problem more pronounced than ever. ”

"If any one of us is left to spend the night in a street or shelter because we are homeless, it will not slow or stop the spread of the virus, and we will not be able to guarantee the health of the entire community in the event of a 'pandemic.'"

In addition, the problem of "aging" of homeless people also increases the risk of outbreaks. Vox quoted The New York Times as reporting that in 2014, about 31 percent of homeless people in the United States were over the age of 50. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that people over the age of 60 are at extremely high risk of contracting COVID-19. Some community workers have found that the elderly in the street homeless community have clearly fallen into panic due to the epidemic.

According to the British "Guardian" reported on the 10th, the problems faced by street people also include the inability to obtain epidemic prevention information, the abuse of drugs leading to weakened immune systems, and so on. Female vagrants, on the other hand, choose a "crowded" sleeping environment to avoid violence, and are more susceptible to disease infection. Even official shelters can be unhygienic, unsafe and overcrowded.

According to the Washington Post reported on the 16th, the new crown pneumonia epidemic has hit the US economy, many industries have begun to lay off employees, and low-income workers are facing the danger of "sweeping out the door", which may lead to an increase in the number of street homeless people. Vox quoted the Associated Press as reporting that US President Trump announced on the 18th that the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development will suspend the eviction of tenants in April, as well as stop recovering the mortgaged housing. This is good news for low-income workers.

According to Vox, at present, the government of various parts of the United States has opened shelters for homeless people, set up portable toilets and handwashing stations in homeless camps as much as possible, and cooperated with social organizations to increase the health and hygiene of homeless people.

However, groups of homeless organizations have called on the authorities to face up to the problem of people's housing. According to the Guardian, Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the San Francisco StreetLife Alliance, said: "People need real housing, not shelters with a high risk of infection." She demanded that officials immediately stop sweeping homeless camps and prevent street homeless people from losing personal medicines and other items.