Where do homeless people poop in Aptos & Santa Cruz County? This is a major health hazard beter managed with easy access to portable toilets.
But few portable toilets exist in Aptos and nearby Santa Cruz, CA.
Most of the time, the bathroom doors are locked at most Aptos churches and in most public facilities.
Since plastic bags are now outlawed, homeless cannot readily clean up after themselves. There are a few portable toilets — but not many.
The California hepatitis A outbreak is on the verge of reaching statewide epidemic status, as cases have spread through homeless tent cities from San Diego north to Sacramento.
California health officials have reported that at least 569 people have been infected with the hepatitis A liver disease and 17 have died since a San Diego County outbreak was first identified in November. Cases have migrated north to homeless populations in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, San Francisco and Sacramento over the last 11 months.
Although local and state authorities have tried to underplay the risks and severity of the outbreak, the most recent annual totals for cases of hepatitis A in the United States was 1,390 in 2015, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). California only reported 179 cases during the same year.
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Aptos Psychologist Dr. Jackson writes:   Are portable toilets just one more thing that taxpayers have to pay for? Looks like yes.  Human poop is a major health hazard in CA.
How might churches and other community organizations help control disease problems related to human poop? Let’s get the issues on agendas of various Aptos and Santa Cruz community organizations.Will that really happen? Mmmmm.
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written by Cameron Jackson  DrCameronJackson@gmail.colm