Everyday citizenship and COVID-19: “Staying at home” while homeless

Abstract

In an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, local and state authorities have enacted stay-at-home orders, limiting citizens' movement outside of the home to "essential" activities and work. Although a seemingly mundane action, staying out of public spaces is a form of co-production aimed at co-creating public health value. People who are homeless, lacking the resources needed to stay at home, are unable to equitably participate in this act of co-production. As a result, their status as a citizen in the "everyday" sense is compromised.