CHICAGO — Seven people who lived in a refugio for migrants in Chicago they have tested positive for measles since last week, prompting the arrival of a team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, to guide the response of state and municipal officials, including vaccination efforts.
A total of eight infections have been reported in the city since Thursday, which, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health, constitutes the first case of measles detected locally since 2019. The first case, an adult, was not a resident in a shelter.
Measles is caused by a contagious virus that remains common in many countries outside the United States. On Friday, the city publicly reported the first case, which occurred at a shelter that houses about 1,900 people. Others quickly followed. cases in that old warehouse in the Pilsen neighborhood, including three confirmed on Tuesday.
The department indicated that the infected people are four children and three adults. Nearly 900 residents have been vaccinated since Thursday, officials said.
The measles vaccine is not recommended during pregnancy or in children under one year of age.
“We have seen cases of newcomers with measles,” the city’s public health commissioner, Dr. Olusimbo Ige, said Wednesday. “The measles cases were acquired here. And for this reason, we have worked very hard, assuming our responsibility to seriously safeguard the health of the new arrivals.”
The cluster of cases at the shelter highlights Chicago’s layered struggle to respond to the arrival of nearly 37,000 migrants since 2022, when Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott began sending buses to so-called sanctuary cities due to immigration chaos at the southern border. from the USA.
Initially, Chicago used police stations and airports while authorities sought other temporary shelters. A city record on Tuesday showed more than 11,000 people remained in city-run shelters.
Source: With information from AP
