San Diego’s Public Bathrooms: Ground Zero For City’s Hep A Outbreak
"The city has a heck of a problem to overcome," one homeless man says about the state of the public bathrooms in the city.
Los Angeles Times:
Grim Conditions In Public Restrooms Hurt Fight To Halt Deadly Hepatitis Outbreak In San Diego
One of the most frequently used public restrooms is located just steps away through the doors of St. Vincent de Paul Village, which as part of Father Joe’s Villages is the largest residential service provider for the homeless in the county. The state and availability of such facilities has recently received intense scrutiny as the region grapples with a massive outbreak of hepatitis A that has killed 16 and stricken 444 people. (Emerson Smith, 9/24)
KPBS Public Media:
Mayor Seeks Solutions To Hepatitis A Outbreak, Dismisses Blame
As the City of San Diego prepares to install 19 more handwashing stations and eight more public restrooms to tackle a hepatitis A outbreak that has killed 16 people and infected 444 countywide, Mayor Kevin Faulconer is saying the city’s response to the growing crisis has been immediate. (Cavanaugh and Lipkin, 9/22)
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Medical Community Challenged By Hepatitis A Outbreak
For months this outbreak had been largely invisible to the general public. It was spreading among those with no fixed addresses and little visibility outside the downtown streets, service centers and empty lots where most people never go, has been largely invisible to the general public. That changed suddenly this week with a news conference held by city and county officials as well as the region’s main health care providers. More than a dozen television cameras zoomed in on grave-looking public health experts as they announced that the outbreak case total had reached 444 with 16 deaths and two more under investigation. (The county also sent out disinfection guidelines to help businesses to combat hepatitis A.) (Sisson, 9/22)