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A Dallas homeless shelter where 15 people have tested positive for COVID-19, including a staff member who died Sunday, has kicked out residents who refused to wear masks as well as others who raised concerns with the media and county health officials about testing and transparency, sources say.
Earlier this week, Dallas County’s public health director, Dr. Philip Huang, said the county was investigating the outbreak at Union Gospel Mission Dallas. Margaret McKoin, a spokeswoman for the shelter, said Wednesday that five staff members and 10 residents have tested positive for COVID-19.
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McKoin said that while masks are required inside the building, which has been on lockdown since March 17, multiple residents said those rules were not enforced before this week, when staff told residents about the death of the staff member. The first case in the building, the spokeswoman said, was reported in mid-October.
“There is a direct disconnect between what their stated policy is and what’s actually happening,” said Clay Zinnecker, 57, who said he was kicked out of the shelter Friday. “They’ve been dragging their feet for three weeks.”
Zinnecker said he had been a resident of the shelter since 2018. He spoke to The Dallas Morning News earlier this week on the condition of anonymity, saying he feared that he would be kicked out of the shelter if identified.
On Friday, he said the shelter’s CEO, Bruce Butler, removed him from the shelter without giving a reason while Zinnecker was talking about testing with county health officials on a cellphone.
“This is a retaliatory measure,” Zinnecker said.
The News asked McKoin to comment on the removal of Zinnecker and other residents midday Friday. Late that evening, McKoin said Zinnecker had called her personal phone, threatening legal action in multiple voicemails over several hours. McKoin also said she would arrange an interview with Butler on Saturday morning.
Butler did not call for the scheduled interview, and calls to McKoin Saturday morning went unanswered.
Saturday afternoon, Butler responded with a brief written statement and a Facebook video in which he criticized The News’ reporting about the shelter’s handling of the outbreak. The shelter had been free of COVID-19 cases since March, he said on the video, but the recent surge of cases has meant trouble for the mission.
“Yes, three people were asked to leave Union Gospel Mission after becoming disruptive, and it was not related to our COVID management,” Butler said in a written statement. “When serving 200 people daily, some of whom suffer from one or more of a number of issues including alcohol and drug addiction and mental illness, it is not unusual to ask people to leave when they become disruptive. In these instances, as always, we offered them other resources and guidance to find new accommodations.”
At a recent chapel meeting at the shelter, Butler told residents that the shelter had passed out thousands of masks. He said that although he reminds people to wear their masks, some people take them off quickly. Earlier this week, McKoin said mental illness and other issues make it all the more difficult for staff to enforce masking requirements.
After a mandatory meeting at the shelter Thursday night, Zinnecker shared with The Dallas Morning News photos which showed few people properly wearing their masks. He also shared an audio recording from that meeting, in which Butler told the residents they’d be kicked out if they refused to wear one.
“If you don’t like the way things are going, we’re going to help you leave,” Butler said on the recording. “We’re going to go get security and get your stuff and help you go. That’s not a threat, that’s a fact.”
On the recording Butler also criticized residents who spoke out about conditions in the shelter.
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“There have been people around the mission filming stuff, trying to hurt the mission,” Butler said on the recording. “When enemies put the spotlight on a situation, they make it tougher for everybody.”
Earlier this week, McKoin said that an employee likely brought the virus into the mission. Residents are not allowed to come and go, she said, but staff members are.
One 50-year-old resident, who also requested anonymity for fear of being kicked out of the shelter, said he was extra careful to not get the virus. He said he sanitized pens before using them and always wore a N95 mask. Still, he tested positive for COVID-19 last week and is quarantining in a hotel shelter run by the city of Dallas.
He said the shelter’s staff didn’t follow the rules he made sure to follow.
“That’s my whole thing: They should’ve been enforcing it,” he said. “It’s not the Hilton — it’s not supposed to be — but they didn’t follow their own guidelines.”
At Thursday’s chapel meeting, according to the audio recording, Butler emphasized that those who spoke out about concerns at the shelter would be removed.
“You’re not going to be allowed to stay here and cause problems,” Butler said. “When you call the media next time, please tell them we’re doing exactly what Dallas County Health has required.”
But this week there seemed to be a change in tone in the shelter’s mask policy, the residents said. While previously the mask rules had not been enforced, residents say, Butler’s statement at Thursday’s chapel made it clear: Wear a mask, or leave. That message, he said on the recording, came from the county’s health department.
He repeatedly is heard on the recording saying that the mask demands — as well as requirements that all residents be tested — were coming directly from Dr. Joann Schulte, Dallas County deputy health authority and medical director. Butler also can be heard criticizing people who spoke to the news media, and Zinnecker said he believed Butler was claiming that Schulte had issued a directive to remove such people.
In an email Saturday, Schultesaid the county’s health department “did not advise forcing anyone out.”
“Our advice was to encourage all residents to get tested, but we understood they had the right to refuse,” she said. “We have also recommended that as test results come back for those who are being tested, that the positive and negative be housed separately at UGM.”