A temporary homeless shelter opened Wednesday at the Lewiston Armory.

The shelter is intended to keep people off the street to help prevent the spread of coronavirus. Guests will be screened for COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, when they arrive.

Shawn Yardley is CEO of Community Concepts, a local nonprofit that will manage the day-to-day operations of the shelter. He says it’s difficult to do the kind of contact tracing that helps control the spread of disease in people with no fixed addresses.

“It’s really hard once its there to trace where it came from and get people into quarantine. So if we can reach them when they’re healthy, we’ve got a good chance of helping them and other people in the community,” he says.

The shelter has capacity for 60 people, and Yardley says he expects it will be full by the weekend. It’s scheduled to be in place until the end of June.