D.C. plans to expand an isolation and quarantine site at a hotel for people experiencing homelessness to include members of that community who are exposed to monkeypox, officials said.
The site will expand to handle the rising number of people experiencing homelessness in the District exposed to COVID-19 and monkeypox. D.C.’s homeless community has two confirmed cases of monkeypox, officials confirmed Wednesday.
The District first used these sites during the height of the pandemic to quarantine people experiencing homelessness who had contracted or been exposed to COVID-19. The sites cost the city millions of dollars.
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Most of those quarantine sites have closed, but at least one hotel has remained in use.
The quarantine center will now be for both COVID-19 and monkeypox patients experiencing homelessness. There are currently 25 COVID-19 patients and two monkeypox patients quarantined at the hotel, according to a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Human Services.
Officials did not provide the exact location of the hotel but acknowledged it is a Hampton Inn.
The District currently has 248 monkeypox cases, according to the CDC.
