A line of Kaneland School District 302 buses line South River St. in Aurora on Monday, waiting to move residents from the Hesed House homeless shelter to a northwest suburban hotel. (Photo by Jack McCarthy / Chronicle Media)

The line of yellow Kaneland School District 302 buses looked decidedly out of place on Aurora’s South River St. around noon last Monday.

With schools out of session due to the coronavirus pandemic and no students to transport, the buses were pressed into service on a different mission — help move residents of the Hesed House homeless shelter to a safer location.

Two residents recently tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and others had been placed under precautionary quarantine, so the state’s second-largest homeless shelter picked up and transferred an estimated 200 residents, plus staffers to a northwest suburban hotel.

The move included Executive Director Ryan Dowd, who has been living at Hesed House for a month while overseeing operations.

The state of Illinois stepped in to temporarily lease the hotel and provide three daily meals to the residents.

“The state of Illinois has come (through) in a big, big way. It’s the cavalry to the rescue,” said Dowd in a Facebook video diary series entry chronicling his shelter stay.

“This is government at its best, this is government saving lives,” he added. “The Illinois Department of Public Health told us if we didn’t do this, we should assume that every single person at Hesed House would get COVID.”

Residents will reportedly stay two weeks, possibly more. Each resident will have a single room as part of a strategy to prevent potential new COVID-19 infections.

“That allows us to get that social distancing that is so incredibly important during this pandemic and virtually impossible to do in the second-largest shelter in the state of Illinois,” Dowd said.

Kane County sheriff’s department personnel in white hazmat gear transported 20 residents per bus to the hotel. Buses departed from Hesed House every half hour.

Kane County Sheriff Ron Hain told Dowd his department was happy to assist.

“At times like these — and in normal times — we have to look out for almost all the population,” he told Dowd. “People that follow the sheriff’s office understand my philosophy about our jail population, our vulnerable population, our homeless population. … We were more than happy to step up and help out.”

Dowd said there was no truth to rumors that residents who tested positive for the coronavirus earlier and resided at Hesed House were out in the community.

“No,” he said. “Any known or suspected cases COVID cases at Hesed House (were) completely on lockdown quarantine. They (were) not roaming the streets.”

Donations are still needed and can be dropped off at 659. S River St, Aurora from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday or visit www.HesedHouse.org/donate-new for more information.

“Hesed House is not shutting down, we’re just moving temporarily to this hotel,” Dowd said.