At Least 37 Children at Immigrant Youth Shelters in Chicago Test Positive for Coronavirus
At least 37 children living in an immigrant youth shelter in Chicago have tested positive for coronavirus, according to Heartland Human Care Services.
The non-profit organization, which operates three shelters across the city, has 69 “participants,” or immigrant children under 17 years old, currently in its care, meaning more than half have been infected with the highly contagious virus, Mailee Garcia, a spokesperson for Heartland Alliance, which oversees the shelter, told PEOPLE in a statement.
Children in the facilities are those who have been separated from their parents at the border, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“While we are not going to share the details of any specific child in our care, there have been 37 confirmed positive diagnoses to date,” Garcia said. “We are operating under the assumption that we will see additional positive diagnoses as we receive results from the other tests that have been administered, and the steps we are taking to ensure the health and safety of our participants and staff are based on that assumption.”
Garcia said that Heartland worked to get all of the children tested as soon as coronavirus symptoms were present in the program, and that they’ve been in regular contact with the Chicago Department of Public Health and the medical team at the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.
“The prognosis for all of the children in our care is very good, and we are continuing to focus on our participants’ health and well-being,” said Garcia, who declined to comment on whether any of the children had been hospitalized.
The first positive cases were reported on Friday at a shelter in Bronzeville, and two staff members have also since tested positive, according to an internal email obtained by ProPublica, which was the first to report the outbreak.
It remains unclear just how many cases were reported at each center.
The statement said that the shelter has been taking precautions to keep children safe amid the outbreak, including moving children exhibiting symptoms to an isolated environment.
Staff members working with certain children have also been given N95 masks, gowns and gloves, and staffers who have worked on the floors with positive cases have been asked to stay home for two weeks.
The facility is also undergoing weekly deep cleanings.
Heartland Alliance is currently operating three shelters; according to ProPublica, they usually operate five, but have consolidated in response to the coronavirus.
As of Tuesday afternoon, there have been 22,025 cases and 800 deaths attributed to coronavirus in Illinois, according to The New York Times.
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