Jackie Hai/KJZZ

Downtown Flagstaff.

A Flagstaff homeless shelter is dealing with an outbreak of COVID-19 with at least 20 confirmed cases.

Flagstaff Shelter Services executive director Ross Altenbaugh says the shelter did a testing sweep of all residents.

"We did surveillance testing on everyone that was in our emergency shelter," Altenbaugh said. "When we started getting the results, we've seen about 35% of the shelter population test positive."

The shelter moved about 75 vulnerable residents to local motels and had been enforcing social distancing guidelines within the shelters.

"We’re taking everyone’s temperature as they come in, asking very specific questions about how people are feeling, where they’ve been, that sort of thing," Altenbaugh said. "We have handwashing stations everywhere, and hand sanitizer, as well as everyone that’s staying there has the ability to sleep 6 feet apart."

Homeless shelters, like jails and ships, are potential hotbeds for viral infections, given the presence of large numbers of people in close quarters. But even with strict protocols, the homeless bear a lot of the infection burden simply because they don’t have homes.

"The more work we can do around getting people connected with housing is the most important thing we can do, because that’s the only way we can really get people to shelter in place is if they have their own home," Altenbaugh said.

During the pandemic, Flagstaff Shelter Services has remained at capacity — and fundraising events have been postponed indefinitely.

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