CENTRALIA, Wash. — Washington state has set up several RVs in the yard of Maple Lane School, a former juvenile detention center in Centralia, to handle those exposed to or infected with coronavirus.
Those who do not have to be hospitalized are encouraged to self-quarantine, but living situations don’t always allow for that, said Department of Health Incident Commander Nathan Weed.
“If they really have nowhere else to go, and we can’t find them a place, we use facilities like this,” said Weed.
The RVs could house up to 20 people.
These residents would have access to WiFi, food and medical services.
“We want to make sure the experience of being quarantined is a good experience,” Weed told Gov. Jay Inslee during a tour of the Centralia facilities on Wednesday morning.
Some of the nearby residents in southern Thurston County have complained about potentially having people connected to coronavirus living in their neighborhood.
“From the science I’ve reviewed, I’d have no problem having my beautiful granddaughter living on the other side of that fence," Inslee said.
Weed said people exposed to coronavirus were housed in RVs near Shoreline last month.
He said the Centralia facility is ready to take patients.
Inslee reiterated that the Centralia facility isn't the only option: there will be hospital facilities and King county has set up modular housing in several locations to isolate those possibly infected.