By noon Sunday, ºüÀêÊÓƵ Mayor Lyda Krewson and other city officials finished removing the last of a homeless encampment downtown.
Wearing masks and gloves, Krewson and Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards oversaw city employees removing the remaining tents in Poelker Park and relocating 20 or so people who remained there to temporary housing.
The camp, Krewson said Sunday, had posed a health risk because it housed a large number of people from across the region and state who gathered there and set up tents there in unsanitary conditions.
“This popped up just a few weeks ago and very quickly became a very unhealthy situation,†Krewson said.
In all, about 100 people living at the camp have been moved to a total of six shelters or hotels, including two in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, Edwards said. About 40 people were relocated Saturday, and about 40 had been moved a week earlier, he said. No one was issued a citation or forcefully removed, he said.
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“It was done quietly, it was done very professionally and it was done by consent,†he said.
The park was cleared after a federal judge declined to block the removal of the encampment. Advocates for the homeless had sought a restraining order, saying that clearing the camp would disperse people through the community and put them at risk of being exposed to COVID-19.
Marcus Hunt, 29, who lived in one of the tents, said many people were relocated to places and put in contact with people they weren’t familiar with.
“That uncertainty is a far harder situation to deal with than life in these tents, because you know what you’re going to do, you know where you’re going to go, you know how you’re going to survive,†he said.
The camp was a convenient place to find volunteers bringing food or supplies for people who did not have housing, but its visibility made it a target for the city, Hunt said.
“That’s what they responded to, they responded to how it looks and not the actual needs,†he said.
Later on Sunday, the city recorded 97 new COVID-19 cases, a record number reported in a single day. The jump brought the city’s total number of cases to 1,304. Seventy people have died of the disease in the city.
We’ve made progress together, but this fight isn’t over.
— Mayor Lyda Krewson (@LydaKrewson)
Nearly 100 new cases today. Our highest single day of reported cases yet.
Everyone, please continue to practice & remember the City’s order *does not* expire tomorrow.
Reopening Monday
COVID-19 cases and deaths across Missouri continued to climb Sunday, even as several counties prepared to reopen Monday under a plan by Gov. Mike Parson to allow businesses, religious services and social gatherings to resume — with social distancing rules.
Missouri announced 232 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the state’s total to 8,386. The state’s death toll from the disease reached 352, up from 351 on Saturday. The new COVID-19 cases include employees at Triumph Foods, a pork processing plant about an hour north of Kansas City. As of Sunday, 373 employees have tested positive, up from 359 on Saturday.
In ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, as of Saturday there were 3,433 cases and 177 deaths. The county had not released updated numbers by Sunday night.
St. Charles County reported six new COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the total to 612. Forty-one people have died of the disease in that county.
Franklin County reported three new COVID-19 cases Sunday, bringing the total there to 122 with 13 deaths.
Jefferson County reported 285 COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths as of Sunday.
Jefferson, St. Charles and Franklin counties planned to reopen Monday, while ºüÀêÊÓƵ and ºüÀêÊÓƵ County maintained stay-at-home orders.
COVID-19 cases and deaths also increased in Illinois. The state reported 2,994 new cases and 63 additional deaths Sunday, for a total of 61,499 cases and 2,618 deaths. Ninety-seven of 102 counties in the state have confirmed COVID-19 cases.
State officials had tested 19,417 people since Saturday afternoon, setting a record for the most tests performed within a 24-hour period, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Sunday.
In Madison County, 19 new COVID-19 cases and one death were reported Sunday, bringing the total number of cases there to 364. A total 24 people have died of the disease.
Monroe County reported 75 COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths Sunday, up from 69 cases and 10 deaths Saturday.
St. Clair County posted 550 cases on Sunday with 47 deaths.
Overall, across the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region, hospitalizations due to COVID-19 increased slightly from 656 on Saturday to 660 Sunday, according to the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Metropolitan Pandemic Task Force. The number of those patients in intensive care dropped to 158 from 178. One fewer patient was on a ventilator Sunday, bringing the total number to 117.
A total of 23 COVID-19 patients were released from hospital care, according to the task force, bringing the total number of recovered patients as of Sunday to 1,398.
‘Part of a process’
None of more than a dozen people at the downtown homeless encampment who were voluntarily tested for COVID-19 tested positive for the disease, Edwards said.
Most people were placed in single rooms, though families and couples were kept together, Edwards said. About 10 men agreed to be housed together in a dormitory-style shelter because there were no single rooms available, he said. Some people were able to pack their tents and take them with them.
Advocates for the homeless maintained that the city had dismantled the camp because its location in the middle of downtown made it highly visible, not because of concern about COVID-19, said Alex Cohen, with Tent City STL, a volunteer group.
Other homeless people in tents or sleeping outside elsewhere in the city have sought housing for weeks but have not been relocated, Cohen said.
“If the city was taking a public health approach, you would prioritize people most at risk of COVID-19,†Cohen said. “Instead, they deprioritized people seeking shelter for weeks, based on a political agenda.â€
Krewson said the city would assign people relocated from the tent camp a case worker to help them find permanent housing and connect them with resources.
“Homelessness is worked on 365 days a year,†she said. “This is part of a process.â€