Homeless sick with coronavirus housed in RVs outside Fort Worth Convention Center
Four homeless people in Fort Worth have come down with the novel coronavirus and are being housed and treated in rented RVs parked outside the Fort Worth Convention Center.
The convention center opened last month to provide space when homeless shelters ran out of space because of required social distancing efforts to keep cots and people 6 feet apart.
Medical officials take the temperature each day of the people staying at the shelter. Additional tests are run on anyone with a fever.
Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 and does not need to be at the hospital for ventilators or other treatment stays in the nearby RVs until they are no longer sick, said Richard Zavala, the city’s parks and recreation director.
“It’s the best place we have found to keep them safe and quarantined,” said Zavala, who is overseeing the shelter and RVs at the convention center.
Groups such as the National Alliance to End Homelessness say homeless residents can be especially vulnerable to coronavirus.
In Fort Worth, the general rule is one person per trailer, except for families. In one case, a woman with coronavirus is quarantined in one RV with her two children who are not ill.
The coronavirus patients have the ability to communicate with a doctor at any time. They have food delivered three times a day and they have wellness checks twice a day, Zavala said.
“All of this is done under CDC guidelines,” he said.
The trailers were part of the plan when the convention center opened as an overnight homeless shelter. At the shelter, people check in around 4 p.m. and go through a medical screening. Anyone who doesn’t have a fever or symptoms receives a blanket, cot, and dinner and breakfast — and must leave by 7 a.m. the next day.
Anyone who tests positive heads to one of the 10 RVs parked off Calhoon Street near the convention center.
Another 20 RVs are on the east side of the convention center near the loading docks. And 35 more RVs are at the Will Rogers complex, ready to be used for first responders who become ill with coronavirus. None of the trailers for first responders has been used, Zavala said.
Fences surround the areas where the RVs are parked and security is on duty there.
Zavala said this is a good option, particularly since some hotels have been reluctant to take COVID-19 patients.
The RVs are standard, generally with one bed and a living area with a TV. The overall cost per person who is either staying at the convention center or in an RV is $59 per day, with an additional $24 cost per person each day for medical services, Zavala said.
The cost covers expenses to manage the shelter and the RVs, as well as provide security, food, linens and cleaning.
Last week, the first homeless resident who tested positive for COVID-19 was released from an RV after spending 14 days there, Zavala said.
This story was originally published April 14, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
