WBUR Town Hall Recap: The Spread of COVID-19 in Prison and Homeless Populations

“Dr. Jim O’Connell: There are many paradoxes and ironies in this epidemic. One is that I think if you’re in a shelter, you’re more likely to get the virus than if you’re living outside. So many of our street folks, for example, do not want to go anywhere near a shelter because they think that’s where they will get sick. And interestingly, up until now, we’ve seen very few street people come down with COVID positivity, and most of them have been tested by the hospitals when they hit the emergency room.”