Homeless Deaths Rise From Cold Snap Due To Closed Shelters From Covid Precautions

"Pandemic Precautions" Left Some Texas Shelters Closed As Homeless Froze To Death

TYLER DURDEN

"For over six hours, a long line of people in search of shelter stood huddled together waiting for the doors of the George R. Brown convention center to open," local Houston media reported of the chaos that unfolded earlier this week as Texas temperatures plunged to deadly levels. 

The homeless in Houston as well as in other states hit by the monstrous winter storm and polar vortex which pummeled up to two-thirds of the nation this week in many cases barely escaped the streets in time to avoid exposure, also as social services and charitable centers themselves struggled to stay properly staffed or even open given the widespread power outages and water infrastructure problems. But a number of homeless also died in circumstances that could have likely been easily averted.

As of Thursday night the death toll nationally from the winter storm which most intensely impacted the unprepared southern states topped 40 killed - some among these were homeless who didn't enter a warming center in time, or even tried to survive inside cars. 

As Bloomberg describes, unexpected blizzard-like conditions which rapidly swept most of Texas prompted 'rescue teams' to deploy in search of homeless who hadn't yet entered shelters:

In Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and other cities, social workers and volunteers fanned out to search for unhoused people and usher them into emergency warming centers; when community shelters reached capacity, churches and nonprofits opened their doors to those seeking refuge.

However, the report continues, "Not all found shelter: On Monday, a Houston man was found dead in a van after he declined to be taken to a warming center; another man was found dead on a highway median."

Tragically and almost unbelievably, in some cases shelters were "limited" or actually shuttered altogether by preexisting COVID-19 restrictions

Many said because of COVID-19 there was no room in other shelters and that this was their last hope to find warmth before the temperatures plummet Sunday night.

A separate report out of Louisiana similarly described the city of Lake Charles "grappling" with "ways of addressing the local homeless problem, made worse by restrictions posed by the COVID-19 pandemic," which had severely limited resources and building space based on 'social distancing' and other precautions. It's believed the pandemic precautions left many more on the streets than normally would have been at a moment the homeless were exposed to freezing temperatures, blizzard conditions, falling ice, and negative wind chills.