SF brings test to Chinatown SRO and tries to prevent outbreaks in crowded hotels

On Friday, Chinese hospital conducted a free coronavirus test for all residents of a one-room hotel in Chinatown, San Francisco, in an attempt to prevent another widespread outbreak in these dense buildings. Incidents have proliferated among the many vulnerable elderly living in these residential hotels in other parts of the city, making the virus particularly prevalent in small rooms and communal spaces.

On Friday, people living in a residential hotel in Waverly Place went down a narrow staircase to the sunny Chinatown Road. There was a team of nurses waiting in pop-up tents and gowns.

Temperature check, two squirts of hand sanitizer. Residents of each single-room hotel sat in a folding chair, lowered their masks, and leaned their heads back. The plunge from an elongated cotton swab in each nostril-some discomfort, other coughs, the cry of a little girl-and it was done.

Thirty-four residents of Ning Yung SRO at Waverly Place were screened for coronavirus on a Friday afternoon through a pilot program led by a nonprofit community hospital, China Hospital, sponsored by the San Francisco Public Health Service. It was

This week City Supervisory Board Passed the emergency regulations Ask the health department to follow specific protocols for SRO testing, contact tracking, and case reporting.

The law, sponsored by overseer Aaron Peskin, surged 1,888% from April 1 following an incident between residents and residential hotel staff. As of Monday, there were 179 cases.

“We shouldn’t rest on the laurels,” Peskin said, adding that the second wave of coronaviruses is worried when people are self-satisfied. “This is just the beginning. Testing about 30 people in one SRO gives no information, no results, and no safety.”

Nonetheless, the hospital’s chief operating officer, Gina Yam, said the test was smooth as the team wiped, disinfected and stripped the gloves after testing for about an hour. “I think it’s a great start,” she said. “We want all results to be negative.”

According to Yum, the program will test and track each resident, providing contact tracking, follow-up testing, and additional support and medical care if needed.

The test was voluntary, but almost all residents chose it. The China Integrated Charity Association, which runs the SRO and has offices in the same building, helped educate the public about the program. According to Yum, when he was tested before the test, he had no symptoms.

Jian Zhang, CEO of China Hospital, aims to extend the program to other SROs, but has no specific plans yet. The program is labor-intensive and limited resources are still an issue, she said.

“This is just the first one,” Zhang said. “We are figuring out how to do more.”

Another obstacle, according to Zhang, is that some residents are afraid to get tested because they fear separation from their families, loss of work, or fear of criticism.

Dr. Sunny Pak, director of Chinatown Public Health Center, promises that the city’s health department will work with community groups to provide appropriate culturally-friendly medical care to immigrants and SRO communities in their native language. ..

There are 12 rooms on the 2nd floor of the Ning Yung Building on the 2nd floor, some of which have multiple people. Residents, many of them elderly, share a kitchen with 3 toilets, 2 showers, 1 sink on 1 floor and 1 stove. Use cloth sheets instead of doors in many rooms. On Friday, a man turned on the shower and washed his clothes in a plastic tub.

Chinatown has not yet been hit by the massive coronavirus epidemic, but members of Chinese hospitals and other community groups say they cannot choose self-satisfaction-the pandemic is not over.

“San Francisco Chinatown, one of the most densely populated areas in the United States, is at a very high risk of a devastating community outbreak,” Zhang said.

Anna Baumann is a staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] twitter: @ abauman2