Contact Tracing For COVID-19 Can Be Challenging For Salt Lake's Homeless Population

As of Monday, 124 clients at the Men’s Resource Center in South Salt Lake have tested positive for coronavirus. A handful of cases have also been confirmed at other homeless resource centers throughout Salt Lake County. 

But without addresses or phone numbers, Salt Lake County Nursing Supervisor Tara Scribellito said it can be challenging to contact trace or figure out who else has been exposed.

“You do the best that you can,” Scribellito said. “If you have a name and a date of birth, we look them up in all sorts of different ways to try to see if there’s any contact information, and then go from there.”

The risk of exposure is high at homeless resource centers because of the close living quarters. Health officials recommend keeping people 6 feet apart to prevent the spread of the virus, but that’s proven difficult with hundreds of people staying there any given night. 

Scribellito said as soon as someone tests positive at any homeless resource center, they get moved to an isolation facility.

“We’re really working to try to identify the cases within the men’s resource center immediately and remove them from that situation,” she said. “We put them into an area where they won’t expose other people.”

Once they’re moved, staff then conducts interviews about who they may have exposed to the virus.

Local hospitals also work to connect Salt Lake’s health department with people experiencing homelessness who may be exhibiting symptoms. 

Despite the challenges, Scribellito thinks the county’s contact tracing efforts have been successful because they’ve been able to connect with many people who have possibly been exposed. She said people are willing to work with the health department to keep their communities safe.

Emily Means covers politics for KUER. Follow her on Twitter @Em_Means13