Shelter sites underway at fairgrounds locations to house homeless and farmworkers who test positive for Covid-19.

The Monterey County Fairgrounds exhibition halls that feature farm, craft and baking exhibits during the fair and host a rotating lineup of live music the rest of the year are being retrofitted. The purpose is to house local homeless individuals who test positive for Covid-19 and need isolation to stop the spread of the disease, officials from both the city of Monterey and Monterey County confirmed on Monday, April 20.

County officials are working on similar alternative shelter sites at the fairgrounds in King City and rodeo grounds in Salinas to house homeless and others who are living in congested conditions—such as farmworker housing—where remaining isolated is not possible.

No specific date was given to open the alternative shelters, only that equipment was being brought in to the sites in preparation. In Monterey, city staff were told over the weekend that set-up inside the fairgrounds—property owned by the state of California—would start today, City Manager Hans Uslar said in a call with reporters Monday morning.

After the city submitted a list of questions on Friday to the county about plans to use the fairgrounds, county staff worked over the weekend with city officials, including the Monterey police and fire departments, as well as the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, on creating safety plans, Uslar said.

Neighbors have been contacting the city with concerns about sheltering homeless individuals at the fairgrounds. "We are taking concerns from the neighborhood very seriously," Uslar said. City staff are taking neighbors' input and turning them into suggested actions for the county to follow. 

City officials have been told that individuals staying at the shelter will have to commit in writing that they will not leave while in isolation. The county will contract with a security firm to station officers at entrances and exits.

Later, on a county call with reporters, Charles McKee, the county’s chief administrative officer, called worries that homeless people were being shifted from one part of the county to another a miscommunication.

“The intent is to house people in that situation near their hospital and where their normal place of living is. There’s no plan to shift the location of homeless populations,” McKee said. Those who stay at a facility in their community would be returned to their previous living situation once released from isolation.

“The plan is to help our community overall, to help people who are here working, people here living and to help stem the spread of coronavirus in a humane way that we know all of Monterey County is behind,” McKee said.

In addition to agreeing in writing they will not leave the site, those who are under the county’s care would also have to agree to a code of conduct while staying at the facility, Uslar said.

Two or three of the exhibition halls will be set up under U.S. Centers for Disease Control regulations for isolation beds, Monterey Assistant City Manager Nat Rojanasathira said. The set-up would accommodate less than 150 people and be staffed by registered nurses, behavioral health professionals, social workers and others.

McKee told reporters that the county is working “full steam ahead” with the city of Marina and Joby Aviation on a potential alternative 55,000-square-foot care site for overflow patients from hospitals, should the need arise. (That function would be different than housing on fairgrounds and the rodeo grounds, and meant for hospitalization needs that can be met if hospitals get to capacity—rather than lodging that allows for isolation, for people who do not require hospital care.)

According to the County Health Department's latest data, there are 25 patients hospitalized out of 141 confirmed Covid-19 cases. (Twenty-four people have recovered.) 

Currently all four county hospitals still have capacity, McKee said, in part thanks to fewer accidents and injuries during shelter-in-place and the postponement of elective surgeries.