Written by: Sasha Reva
About three weeks have already passed since SDSU posted their report about the county’s COVID-19 hotel program, and county officials refuse to talk about it.
The report outlined that San Diego County gave an unqualified company a contract that started at $30 million to operate the COVID-19 hotel sheltering program. The premise behind the operation was to isolate people with the virus who had nowhere else to go. However, the staff was poorly trained and the employees forced COVID-19 patients to suffer through long delays while awaiting much-needed medication.
County officials decided to pay SDSU $140K for the final report, which gave recommendations for bettering the program. However, it is unclear if these changes will occur.
San Diego County has been using lots of hotels, like Crowne Plaza, since March 2020 for people who have nowhere else to go to quarantine. Marlon Saville was sent to the Crowne Plaza from a homeless shelter after complaining about COVID-19 symptoms. He’s afraid they will force him to go back to the same place he thinks he caught the virus. Equus Workforce Solutions is the alleged contracting company mishandling the hotels, according to hotel guests and employees who told SDSU. Their staff simply lacks the training to deal with those isolated, many of whom are homeless and struggling with mental illness or substance abuse. As a result, drug use and suicide attempts became rampant in the hotels.
Saville elaborated on the staff and told inewssource, “They’re people, so some of them couldn’t really care, and it’s all a process. But then some are just really amazing.” SDSU continues to suggest that the hotels need additional help, as four of the nine recommendations listed in the report deal with case management, medical, or behavioral health services. The County Supervisor Chair, Nathan Fletcher, has declined to comment on this matter.
Photo from: Jeff Ristine and Lainie Fraser
