A mysterious stomach bug has hit the City of San Diego's O Lot Safe Sleeping Site, and the City together with County health officials are scrambling to uncover the cause while preventing further outbreak. Reports surfaced this past Friday of an abdominal illness that left roughly 30 residents and four staff members from Dreams For Change nonprofit service provider doubled over with gastrointestinal woes. San Diego's health squad, including members from the County Department of Environmental Health and Quality and Public Health Services, descended on the site earlier today to investigate the sickness reports that has the homeless shelter playing an unsavory host to the illness.

Amidst the outbreak, the City has kicked a slew of precautionary measures into gear, running the gamut from increased cleanings to bottled water distributions. Walking into the O Lot now, one would find sanitation crews making their rounds more frequently, commonly touched surfaces getting an extra scrub, and the addition of extra port-a-potties and handwashing stations—for the shelter's roughly 370 residents spread across 320 tents. According to a statement by the City, they’re “following guidance from the County to limit the spread of the illness and taking steps to protect health and safety,” which suggests a united front in this bout against the bug.

But as the mystery illness investigation intensifies, the shelter has been forced to hit the pause button on accepting new residents, leaving the intake area eerily quiet against the bustling backdrop of health officials and cleaning crews. The site currently sits at a population lower than its 408 tent capacity, hinting at a space that might ironically benefit from this unplanned isolation. It's no secret that close quarters can amplify sickness, and the City's decision to halt intakes might just be what the doctor ordered.

Although the O Lot site has become a petri dish of sorts, the City's other Safe Sleeping site at 20th & B remains untouched by the illness, as though the bug draws the line at geography. Officials are on high alert, ready to deploy whichever weapons in their health arsenal might be needed to keep the second site just as clear of the affliction. "The City will take all necessary steps to protect the health and wellbeing of residents at O Lot," reassured the City's missive, promising to keep a tight ship until the county sleuths track down and snuff out the cause of the residents' gastrointestinal distress, keeping San Diegans tuned for the latest updates in this ongoing public health conundrum.