OC Programs Face Challenges Reaching Homeless Seniors Amid Pandemic

An officer from the Sheriff's Department speaks with a homeless woman pulling her cart of belongings beside the Santa Ana River in Anaheim, Calif., on Feb. 20, 2018. Officials in Orange County began moving homeless transients out of the homeless tent encampments to shelters or motels as part of the settlement worked out by homeless advocates and the county under supervision of a federal court judge. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

ORANGE, Calif.—In the midst of a growing pandemic, Orange County’s homeless outreach programs are struggling to limit a vulnerable target population from the devastating effects of the CCP virus.

Many of the county’s homeless population—particularly those over the age of 60—are not “in tune” with the pandemic, according to Orange County Rescue Mission President Jim Palmer, making efforts to help increasingly difficult.