CYS youth center and shelter temporarily closed after one reported COVID-19 case

One person associated with Rosie’s Place and the Young Adult Shelter in downtown Olympia has tested positive for COVID-19, Thurston County Public Health and Social Services confirmed Tuesday. As a result, the engagement center and shelter are temporarily closed, according to Community Youth Services (CYS), the organization that runs the programs.

The case was identified Saturday, said Keylee Marineau, Homeless Prevention and Affordable Housing Coordinator for the county. A county spokesperson did not answer questions from The Olympian regarding the person’s age group, gender, or whether they are a staff person or were at Rosie’s Place to access services.

“The only thing we can confirm is that there has been one reported positive case of COVID-19 and we are working to determine if that is the only case,” spokesperson Meghan Porter wrote in an email. “We do not provide details about individual cases.”

County Public Health is working with CYS to contact staff and youth who were at the center or shelter, Porter wrote, and was sending a team Tuesday to test as many staff and youth as possible.

During the day, Rosie’s Place offers help with food, clothing, first aid, counseling and case management, drug and alcohol treatment, legal support, job search and goal setting, and other services to people ages 12-24. The Young Adult Shelter is open to people ages 18-24.

Operations have looked different during the pandemic, said Derek Harris, CEO of CYS, in a Tuesday phone interview. Along with precautions such as social distancing, temperature checks, masking, and reducing the number of people served, daytime services temporarily morphed to drive-through services rather than drop-in, with young people quickly getting their clothes washed, interacting with case managers, and accessing hygiene services instead of hanging out.

The overnight shelter with a capacity of 26 on a typical night had recently been hosting an average of 15 young people, according to Marineau.

Harris said they shut down all services Saturday after learning of the positive test result, to put safety protocols in place. The closure was not ordered by county public health officials, according to Porter.

Standing up a secondary shelter site would probably take 30-60 days, said Harris, and there’s not another facility like CYS in Thurston County. But most young people have access to off-site shelter supplies such as tents and hygiene items, either through CYS or other outreach organizations, according to Harris. And most will probably stay at the county’s Quarantine and Isolation site while they await test results, he said.

The county has been hosting pop-up COVID-19 testing events for hard-to-reach, vulnerable populations since the end of May, Marineau told The Olympian, eventually building up a rotation of events at the Union Gospel Mission, Ensign Road, and most recently the temporary 24/7 shelter at 2828 Martin Way.

When a person is tested at one of these events, Marineau said, they’re asked if they can safely quarantine while they await results. If they can’t, staff makes sure they understand they are expected to go to the county’s Quarantine and Isolation facility, a hotel that the county hasn’t named publicly.

After they’re tested, they go through an intake process with a Quarantine and Isolation coordinator, Marineau said, and they’re transported to the hotel. They then stay until they receive results.

Awaiting test results, Harris plans to implement a phased reopening process: The facility will be completely sterilized, and staff that quickly receive negative test results can potentially start providing outreach services. As more staff become cleared and CYS reaches sufficient staffing ratios, they’ll be able to start allowing drop-in services and shelter again.

The county has long contracted with CYS to provide programs such as Rosie’s Place, Marineau said, and conversations are underway regarding how county will support CYS during this time.

Both Porter and Marineau said this was the first time a person associated with a shelter in Thurston County has tested positive for COVID-19.

This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 2:13 PM.