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INDIANAPOLIS — The coronavirus outbreak is causing a major impact on those who host Airbnbs. What could have been an busy month is ending with virtually no business for an Indianapolis couple.
Jacks Von Liria and his husband Michael Hoster estimate they are out around $2,000 this month, so instead of letting their Holy Cross apartment sit empty, they wrote a Facebook post saying they know there are doctors and nurses that are busy saving lives and they want to offer their apartment to any healthcare worker who needs a place to stay — for free.
"The business has been wiped out because there was no traveling no events, no restaurants," Von Liria said. "The stories they were telling us we're so heartbreaking we got overwhelmed. There are nurses sleeping in their cars because they can't go see their children."
Alison Isenhour, an X-ray technician for IU Health, said on Tuesday she was informed she was exposed to a person who had contact with a positive coronavirus patient. Her son, Adam, has leukemia and had a stem cell transplant in June 2019, and she has been advised to not go home.
"I was planning on just staying at the hospital for the weekend," Isenhour said. "It was nice to be able to get out and go somewhere else and decompress. I can't mess that up if I were to go home and said they were to happen to him whether it was my fault or not I would never let myself let it down.
While her husbands takes care of the kids, Isenhour now has a safe place to spend the weekend before returning to work Monday.
"I'm really glad that others will be able to have this moment as well. It's needed. I was tired when I got here yesterday. My legs hurt, I was mentally worn out, I was just fried from being there all week," Isenhour said.
Airbnb is currently helping 100,000 COVID-19 responders by connecting healthcare providers, relief workers and first responders with clean, convenient places to stay.
"Especially all the stories we've heard and knowing they need out there," Hoster said. "I'm hoping someone will watch this and want to help, too."