Man staying at Rescue Mission shelter positive for COVID-19; Seven more potentially exposed
An individual who had been staying at the Tacoma Rescue Mission’s emergency homeless shelter for men has tested positive for COVID-19, the nonprofit announced late Wednesday.
It marks the second positive COVID-19 test at Tacoma homeless shelters this week.
According to a statement provided by the Tacoma Rescue Mission, the positive test result was received earlier in the day.
“When the test result was confirmed, the affected guest was transferred to a secure location off Tacoma Rescue Mission property, where they are being monitored by the Health Department,” the Rescue Mission said in its statement to The News Tribune. “To limit further spread of the virus, Mission staff used Health Department guidelines to sanitize impacted areas.”
Reached by The News Tribune, the Rescue Mission could not provide the man’s age.
Tacoma Rescue Mission executive director Duke Paulson did say the man had been staying at the Rescue Mission’s South Tacoma Way shelter for “about a month,” adding that he was “in pretty good health and pretty good spirits.”
Paulson said the shelter and Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department officials believe seven people were potentially exposed to the coronavirus. All of them had slept near the man who tested positive during his stay at Tacoma Rescue Mission, Paulson said.
Those potentially exposed have been separated from the general shelter population, Paulson said, and are currently being monitored for symptoms.
In response to the positive COVID-19 case, the Rescue Mission indicated it would begin “screening all guests at the gated courtyard entrance before they enter the property.”
The Tacoma Rescue Mission’s emergency men’s shelter typically has a capacity of “about 160,” Paulson said, but on nights with freezing temperatures it can house up to 200.
Over the last two weeks, Paulson said, the shelter has averaged 190 guests.
Paulson described operating an emergency homeless shelter during the coronavirus outbreak as “really hard.”
“Every other organization is asking people to work from home and social distance, and we’re bringing in a couple hundred people every night,” Paulson said. “We can’t send people home. The people who are coming to us don’t have any other options.”
This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 6:28 PM.
