Just months after a five-year-old boy from Chicago’s largest migrant shelter fell sick and died, the city is quarantining residents after a young child contracted measles.
Chicago’s Department of Public Health has asked migrant residents to shelter in place for ten days until city officials can determine whether they have been vaccinated against measles, according to a department statement.
More than 2,000 migrants were living at the shelter as of March 1, according to city data.
“The case of measles was identified in a young child who has recovered and is no longer infectious,” reads the statement. “A case investigation is underway to ensure those they may have come in contact with while infectious are informed and vaccinated.”
Migrants who spoke to Borderless Magazine said they were woken up around 1 a.m. on Friday morning and told about the case of measles, but said city and shelter staff didn’t provide more details about where in the shelter the child lived.
“The only thing they tell us is that it’s the measles and that we can’t leave” for ten days, one woman told Borderless Friday morning.
Another migrant said staff were preventing people from leaving the shelter for work. They also noted that children at the shelter could not leave to go to school. “If you leave, they won’t let you come back in,” one woman said.