COVID-19 testing for homeless and staff begins at New Horizons shelter

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Testing at the New Horizons shelter in Manchester began on April 17. Photo/Jeffrey Hastings

MANCHESTER, NH – Residents of the New Horizons homeless shelter lined up Friday morning to be tested for the novel coronavirus at a mobile test site set up in the alley behind the facility.

Manchester firefighters, who previously operated the mobile testing site at the New Hampshire Armory, set up the sites and conducted the tests for residents of the state’s largest homeless shelter.

Cathy Kuhn, chief strategy officer of Families in Transition/New Horizons, said about 50 staff members were tested Thursday and 140 residents are expected to be tested Friday. She said results should be available in a few days, potentially on Monday.

Should anyone test positive, the information will be forwarded to the state health departments but will not be made public by FIT/New Horizons because of HIPPA and confidentiality, according to Stephanie Savard, chief operating officer.

By 10 a.m. Friday, 75 people had already been in.

“If everybody could get tested across this country I think everybody would,” Kuhn said.  “They’re responding the way we all would.”

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A healthcare worker speaks with those waiting to be tested at the site set up behind the New Horizons shelter. Photo/Jeffrey Hastings

“We have to remember this is an extremely vulnerable population at extremely high-risk for severe complications should they get the virus so, of course, they are worried,” said Savard.  “They want to be armed with the information just like anyone would who has an underlying health condition.”

It was on the recommendation of both the city and state public health officials that the testing was done.

“I think they thought it prudent to test staff and participants given the level of congregant living,” Kuhn said.

Manchester Public Health Director Anna Thomas, in an online question and answer session Friday hosted by the Greater Manchester Chamber, said that last August the city opened its Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to deal with the opiate epidemic.  Staff from the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) joined in the bi-weekly sessions to address the issue.

“So now we have the COVID-19 pandemic on top of everything,” she said.

Testing of the homeless in the city became a top priority because of the level of congregate living at the shelter, according to Thomas.

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City Public Health Director Anna Thomas fielded questions during an online Community Conversation session hosted by the Greater Manchester Chamber on April 17. Screenshot

In New Hampshire, as of Thursday the COVIC-19 epidemic has resulted in more than  1,287 positive cases and 37 deaths, more than half of them at assisted-care facilities and nursing homes.  People residing at congregate sites like nursing homes, jails and homeless shelters are particularly vulnerable to the virus, according to health officials.

Should a resident test positive, Kuhn said they would look to the state to implement its plan for isolation and quarantine locations.

Thomas said the state is setting up sites in Laconia and Nashua to house the homeless who test positive.

She said it takes a lot of “planning, logistics and staffing” to care for them particularly when they have underlying health problems like addiction or mental illness.

The former St. Casimir School is being turned into a temporary shelter to house about half the 140 New Horizons residents to allow for distancing and more room at the main facility at 199 Manchester St. Kuhn said there are no plans at present to use that facility to quarantine individuals “but things change on a daily basis.”

State health officials said Thursday the New Hampshire National Guard will help in a rapid coronavirus mobile testing unit next week.

The state obtained 15 rapid testing machines from the federal government but received only enough testing cartridges for two of them.

Lori Shibinette, commissioner of the state Department of Health and Human Services, said they now have the cartridges for all the machines.

“Most likely our focus is going to be on vulnerable populations, and long-term care facilities,” she said Thursday. “It typically has about a five-minute turn around on those tests.”

Kuhn and Savard said they were able to do the testing because of a great partnership they have with the city’s public health department, the Manchester Fire Department and CMC’s Healthcare for the Homeless Clinic that is housed in the same building as the shelter.

“This is really a logistically complex operation and so we’re very, very fortunate to have the partnerships we have in the city,” said Kuhn.

Kuhn does not know if testing is underway at other shelters across the state.

“We’re the largest shelter in the state so they probably recognized the enhanced risk for residents living at New Horizons and the staff working at New Horizons,” she said. “So it would make sense that we would test first.”

Shelter participants have all been issued masks and everyone is encouraged to used masks.

“We are screening at the door and anyone with symptoms is given a mask and referred to the clinic,” said Kuhn.

They have sufficient PPE (personal protective equipment) “for now, depending on how long this goes on,” said Kuhn.   The gear was provided by the fire department and the state.

 

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Pat Grossmith

Pat Grossmith is a freelance reporter.