How do Homeless Stay at Home? (lockdown)

Bumdog Torres (LAist.com, May 15, 2020); Crystal Q., CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

What's "LA LOVE"? Let's ask this homeless man in a wheelchair (Bumdog Torres/LAist).

No room but with a view: Los Angeles homelessness (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via laist.com)

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Social distancing (Bumdog Torres/LAist)

"I was pushing through the alley when I saw these two g[a]ls talking with masks on while standing at a safe distance from each other.

"I was struck by what a good photo it would make. In fact, I just stared at them, framing the shot in my mind.

If 5G causes COVID-19, expect many deaths.

"The[y] glanced at me and went back to their gossiping. I took out my camera and said I was a photographer and would like to take a photo of them. Although they didn't hide their pronounced lack of interest, they said, "Okay, just stay six feet back." — [Homeless, African American, photographer, artist] Bumdog Torres

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COVID-19 numbers 5/19/20

When the lockdown [the "Stay at Home" in the Newspeak of L.A. Mayor Garcetti] went into effect, I was homeless in the Fairfax District [of Los Angeles].

My homelessness wasn't a temporary thing. I've been homeless my entire adult life. It's a lifestyle choice. That's why I was nicknamed "Bumdog."

Some guys were asking me once, "You smoke dope?" I told them "No." "You drink?" "No." "Then why you be bumming everywhere?" "Because I'm a bum." They laughed and...the name stuck....

CURE? Homeless coronavirus prevention: lemon, Airborne, garlic, hot tea (Bumdog/LAist).

If you trip balls, you'll see things, weird things. Stay sober. (Bumdog Torres/LAist.com)

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L.A. Report (KPCC FM/laist.com/scpr.org)

[This is a] portable restroom in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles. One of the biggest challenges of the lockdown is the fact that most of the public bathrooms are now closed.

The Jack in the Boxes, McDonald's, Starbucks, and even gas stations no longer allow you to use their bathrooms. The city talked about putting up more Port-a-Potties and washing stations for the homeless but this one on Beverly Blvd. is the only one I've seen.

Sanitation is a basic human right. Free toilets!

The only open bathrooms that I know of are the ones in Pan Pacific Park and the La Brea Tar Pits. Although there are several bathrooms in each, technically that means there are only two public bathrooms spots within a five-mile radius, and that's not just for the homeless, that's for everyone.

More and more, I'm seeing people get out of their cars in alleys and piss behind a trash can or their car door. Come this summer, these streets are gonna get rank [with communicable disease, maybe even novel coronaviruses like WHO's SARS-2 and 3]. More

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