SPOKANE, Wash. — Less than a month after the new homeless shelter on East Trent Avenue opened its doors, organizers are grappling with a handful of COVID cases.
As officials work to clear the homeless encampment on I-90, people are being bussed over to the Trent shelter. Brian Coddington with the City of Spokane says 150 people are currently staying at the shelter and now a handful of those people have tested positive for COVID.
"So there were four cases that were discovered," said Coddington.
Coddington says those four people are now quarantined.
“So, they spend the night in that isolation area, away from the population that's inside of the shelter to keep the elements contained,” said Coddington.
Coddington says from the start they've been taking numerous precautions to keep people safe, such as spacing shelter beds apart and providing masks. They're also working with health officials.
"The health department does come in on a regular basis and do screening,” said Coddington. “They do some wellness checks, all those different kinds of things, including screening for COVID.”
The Spokane Regional Health District says that they do COVID testing once a week and provide over-the-counter tests on days that they aren't testing. If the demand increases, they will re-evaluate and determine if they should offer to test twice a week.
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