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-I should be afraid of coronavirus,
but I'm not, you know?
What I am afraid is of people who are vulnerable dying alone.
[mouse clicking]
I have a lot of people who follow me on my social media.
I try to stay connected with them
and show them that we're here.
I make it clear to them that we're not closed.
-You know, Casa Ruby is an LGBTQ community center.
We help the most vulnerable population in Washington DC,
and 10% of the population in Washington DC is LGBTQ,
and 40% of that is homeless, right?
-357 homeless individuals slept in all of our facilities.
So, when they say, you know, "Quarantine yourself, go home,"
you know, they can't go home.
This is their home.
But they told us everybody's supposed to stay in their house.
It's hard. -I can't do that.
-Okay, so you're having a hard time with the isolation.
-Yeah, I, like, had anxiety.
Like, I couldn't just sit still.
I was going off, and I tried to let it out.
-At first, when the coronavirus and the shutdown was starting,
for like three days, everybody was going crazy.
Peoples were having mood swings.
Some people didn't want to take their meds.
Some people were like, "I can't sleep."
-Some are sad.
Some are scared.
Some are experiencing being laid off their job.
-When someone is upset about something,
we explain to them, right?
We let them get their frustration out,
but we explain to them that this is for everybody to be safe.
-Okay?
And then you wash your hands again
to get rid of the soap, okay?
Get rid of the soap.
And then we get the towel or whatever we have.
-I also have an immunocompromised body.
When I first got diagnosed with HIV, my case manager told me,
"Just plan your funeral."
For three months, I asked the universe,
I asked, I said, "Just give me three months after diagnosis."
And I got more than three months.
[laughs] I'm still here 20-plus years.
But I also learned that, in order for me not to be sick,
I have to take care of Ruby.
And, to me, you know,
a big part of my happiness is being at Casa Ruby.
We have food for a long time.
-There's breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the houses
to be prepared for the weekend.
-Y esta donación [indistinct] -[speaking Spanish]
-¿Para el fin de semana?
-Para el fin de semana. -Okay.
That's good.
You know, since we spoke, we had a positive for COVID.
My number-one priority is to be there, and I have,
but this is something that you can't control, you know?
This is something that you just --
you have no control of.
You know, the hardest part is that I can't hug them,
and I'm a hugger.
Because, last week, one of the girls, she said,
"I tested HIV-positive."
It was so hard because she was in so much pain,
and I wanted to give her a hug so bad.
And I cried.
I said, "I don't like to see you cry."
Because I don't.
You know, just part of me -- if I could take their pain away,
I would do that.
But I can't.
I feel like it's been 40 days since the mayor announced
that there was gonna be a state of emergency.
And I feel like I beat this, you know?
I beat it because I'm still out there --
I'm still going to the store, I'm still coming to Casa Ruby.
So I feel like, you know, I beat this, but, you know,
I'm like, "For how much longer?"
Right?