11 men in quarantine after first coronavirus case inside Horry County homeless shelter
A Myrtle Beach homeless shelter confirmed its first positive coronavirus case this week, and 11 men are now quarantined outside the facility as a result.
Kathy Jenkins, executive director of New Directions of Horry County, confirmed one of their clients at the men’s shelter tested positive Monday after displaying symptoms, and 10 others were identified as high-risk exposed. A total of 63 men were living at the shelter on Osceola Street at the time, she said.
New Directions partnered with Eastern Carolina Housing Organization to find temporary housing for the affected men to isolate, and they’re following S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control guidelines, Jenkins said, including not taking in any new clients and closing off the portion of the shelter where the man who tested positive was staying until it can be professionally disinfected.
Jenkins said New Directions, which also operates three other shelter facilities in the county, had been able to avoid COVID-19 within its walls for nearly 10 months — since it was first confirmed in South Carolina in mid-March — by being extremely careful: promoting social distancing, increased disinfection protocols and limiting new people from entering.
“It’s pretty remarkable when you consider the number of people we serve and what we try to do in the community that we’ve gone this long without one,” she said. “Our clients and our staff have definitely stepped up ... to keep it out of the shelters.”
She added that they’re “prayerfully optimistic” no other clients or staff will be impacted.
Federal and state health officials have identified homeless shelters as high risk for virus spread due to the close communal living arrangement among a large, at-risk population.
DHEC does not systematically track COVID-19 cases among South Carolina’s homeless population, according to a DHEC spokesperson, but 81 residents who voluntarily disclosed their status as homeless have tested positive as of Dec. 15.
Nearly 20% of those individuals were hospitalized, which is more than four times higher than the rate of hospitalization among the state’s general population, DHEC data shows.
Steps have been taken to try to limit the number of people needing to seek out homeless shelters as virus-related shutdowns have caused economic strain, including various eviction moratoriums, but those have been unevenly enforced and the latest federal moratorium is set to expire Friday.
Jenkins noted that New Directions is still raising money — donations can be made at helpnewdirections.org — to renovate the upstairs of the men’s shelter that would allow it to add 74 beds and increase social distancing.
This story was originally published December 30, 2020 at 1:04 PM.
