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Harry Sanchez knows how important it is to wash your hands these days, but he’s never certain when he’ll have access to soap and water.
Tinkering with a hand-held radio while his belongings sat in a bag leaning against a mountain bike in Lincoln Park last week, the 58-year-old maintenance man was as concerned as anyone about catching the novel coronavirus. Homeless since 2014, Sanchez says he usually tries to keep clean by visiting businesses with public restrooms or cobbling together enough change to buy hand wipes.
But with more and more businesses closing as the number of coronavirus cases in L.A. County balloons, Sanchez says his already short list of options to maintain basic hygiene has dwindled toward none.
“Everything is closed that people would normally use ... and there’s a lot of chances to catch it when you’re dirty and outside,” he said.
As dangerous as the novel coronavirus has already proved to be, many fear that an outbreak among L.A. County’s vulnerable homeless population could prove especially deadly, putting even more stress on overwhelmed hospitals. With hygiene crucial to preventing that outcome, people in Sanchez’s situation are becoming even more reliant on a network of mobile showers and public washing stations staffed, in part, by volunteers willing to risk their own health to help others.
“What we’ve told the staff is this thing is a beast, it spreads like nothing else … everyone has been advised if they want to take a leave, it’s nothing personal,” said Mel Tillekeratne, the founder of Shower of Hope, a network of trailers with washing stations that operates across L.A. County. “I really thought we would not be operating, I thought our guys would break out, but they were like, no, we need it now more than ever.”
There have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus infection among L.A.'s homeless population. But with at least six Los Angeles police officers testing positive in the LAPD’s Central Division — which patrols...