I’m 11 days into 2 week quarantine. I was symptomatic for a few days last week, spoke to several nurses and was told to come in to see my doctor for exam. Entered building through back door, was given mask & exam but no COVID test b/c there aren’t enough. 1/

My doc found me to be symptomatic, “presumptive positive,” advised quarantine. My symptoms subsided last weekend but are back today. Low grade fever, chest pain. I’m grateful for what’s been a mild case & grateful for incredible health care workers in US.

I’m thankful that my family is healthy & we’re stably housed during my illness & this pandemic. I’m heartbroken & angry, so outraged, that hundreds of thousands of people are in shelters or on sidewalks & millions are terrified b/c they can’t pay rent.

I’m angry and heartbroken that our country has failed, so consistently and so continuously, to meet the most basic needs of people in America. A safe, affordable home. Access to food. Health care. Decent paying jobs. A chance to retire w/dignity.

I can’t stop thinking of this picture of Las Vegas response to a homeless shelter closing due to confirmed COVID-19 case. They gave the homeless shelter residents a slab of concrete to sleep on. Are we, as a country, ok with this? This is not ok.

If this crisis has done anything remotely positive, maybe it’s that it has exposed the gaping holes in our social safety net. It’s ripped off a veil that kept some people from seeing or caring about who fell through.

It’s made tens of millions of people in America - the richest country In the world - realize how close they are to falling off a financial cliff. And when they peak over that cliff, they see there’s very little there to catch them.

Maybe this disaster will be different. Maybe our obvious interconnectedness, our forced #StayatHome altruism that requires us to personally sacrifice in order to protect the most vulnerable, which in turn increases health/safety for us all, will resonate.

Maybe it’ll spur us all to do more, be better. Maybe we’ll come through this terrible time with - at long last - a collective commitment to end homelessness & hsg poverty once & for all. We’ve always had the means & solutions, we’ve only lacked the will. 9/9