Covid-19 And The Homeless

Last fall a ruckus was raised when several hundred ostensibly homeless people began camping in unoccupied territory near the I-94 and Hiawatha Ave. intersection. The area is part of what has been for years a center of the native American community in Minneapolis and many of the urban campers were natives.

Authorities provided portable toilets for these people but were eventually able to remove them to homeless shelters in other parts of the city, or so it was claimed.

Now, with the Covid-19 virus looming over everyone, people who might have once taken the option of a homeless shelter fear that they or their children would be exposed there to the viral infection. They feel that they are safer camped in these spots where they aren't sleeping next to possibly infected strangers, even though they lack basic sanitation facilities, as described here.

 Camp Quarantine

Law enforcement sources say that they have been directed not to disturb the camp residents.

Franklin Ave. camp

A fence has been installed, apparently to prevent people from entering the areas beneath the I-94 overpass on Cedar Ave. a few blocks north of the camps.