Few sheltered as California aims to help homeless amid virus

JANIE HAR Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Homeless outreach workers are passing out hand sanitizer, checking temperatures and pleading with people not to crowd together. But a week after California Gov. Gavin Newsom pledged thousands of hotel rooms to help the homeless survive the coronavirus pandemic, most of those rooms sit empty. For most of California's estimated 150,000 homeless, the message they're getting — if they get one at all — is to isolate themselves if they feel sick and call a doctor if symptoms worsen. "Obviously these are people who are writing recommendations who don't have any direct experience with what a person goes through when they are homeless," said Joe Smith, advocacy director for Loaves & Fishes, a Sacramento nonprofit group that provides mea