Health Care

Coronavirus found among workers at facilities for migrant children: report

Three workers at two facilities in New York currently involved in housing undocumented migrant children have reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) said Monday that the workers are employed at two unidentified migrant detention facilities, which, it added, have consulted local health officials about “appropriate quarantine measures” for the workers, according to CBS News.

A dozen migrant children at the facilities have also been tested for the virus, according to CBS, and none have tested positive so far. Five have tested negative, and the rest are awaiting results.

One foster parent helping care for migrant children in Washington state has also tested positive for the disease, according to ORR. Washington state and New York have seen some of the highest levels of the coronavirus in the U.S. as officials have struggled in recent weeks to prevent the virus from spreading.

In New York, children receiving medical care while being housed in detention facilities no longer leave the facility to see a doctor due to new “tele-health” services reportedly implemented in the state, as well as in California.

More than 377,000 people around the world have been infected with the coronavirus officials in the U.S. have ordered the suspension of non-essential businesses and other gatherings of people including schools until further notice in many states.