The homeless have nowhere to isolate

The argument

Homeless populations face a distinctive risk from COVID-19, and the argument for directing help towards them rests on the fact that the standard public health advice cannot be followed by people who have nowhere to follow it. Isolating presupposes somewhere to isolate in. People who are homeless are unable to isolate in a home, and many also carry increased health risks that make infection more dangerous when it occurs. Without the ability to stay out of public spaces, they become a heightened concern both for contracting the virus and for spreading it — not through any choice of their own but because the alternative to a public space is not available to them. The second problem is that the support they do rely on is itself under strain. Homeless people often depend on social services that the pandemic has placed under pressure or shut down altogether, at precisely the moment when the need for them is greatest. A crisis that disrupts the services they rely on removes existing support at the same time as it introduces a new danger. Ensuring continued access to essential services is therefore vital to protecting these communities. The third problem concerns the most basic countermeasures. Homeless people often lack easy access to the sanitation and hygiene methods needed to kill the virus. These are basic amenities that most people take for granted, and their absence puts the simplest protection out of reach. A group that cannot isolate, cannot rely on the services that sustain it and cannot readily wash is exposed on every front at once. Because the homeless have nowhere to isolate, extra measures must be put in place to protect them from the plight of the pandemic.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Homeless communities may be unable to take measures to prevent the spread of the virus, but they are not the most vulnerable. The elderly and sick are most at risk, so we must take measures to protect them. In reality, all are under threat of the virus and its proximate effects. We cannot give the homeless special treatment when it already affects so many. There is a logistical barrier to helping them as well. It would be difficult to implement any policy, such as mask-wearing, within a homeless population. Using extra resources in this way is impractical when so many healthcare services are already being pushed to their breaking point as a result of the virus.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] We should prioritize helping those most greatly affected by the virus. [Rejecting P2] Homeless communities are too difficult to manage during the virus. [Rejecting P3] Healthcare and social service systems are already stretched thin by the virus. We cannot give the homeless special treatment.