The Centers for Disease Control are allowing shelters that serve migrant children crossing the U.S. border with Mexico to expand to full capacity, abandoning the requirement that they stay close to 50% to inhibit the spread of the coronavirus, Axios learns.
Why does it matter: The fact that the country’s leading health consulting agency is allowing a change to the COVID-19 protocols indicates the scale of the immigration crisis. A draft memo obtained by Axios granted “the facilities must plan and expect to have COVID-19 cases.”
- The document continues to recommend detailed ways to prevent the spread of coronavirus in shelters.
- It encourages operators to continue to apply COVID-19 tests to newly arrived children, follow 14-day quarantine guidelines, wear masks, improve ventilation and ensure that they reserve space to isolate any child with a positive test, among other actions .
- The memo states that “there is no 0% risk scenario” due to the coronavirus, so “facilities should plan and expect to have COVID-19 cases,” CNN reported for the first time.
- An HHS spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Driving the news: The memo, written on CDC letterhead and with imminent delivery, states that the “only options available” to house minors who cross the border without their parents are “extended stays in [Customs & Border Protection] facilities operating significantly above the capabilities of COVID-19. “
- The other alternative is to increase capacity in other shelters administered by the Department of Health and Human Services above what their own coronavirus protocols allow.
- The CDC says there is an increased risk of migrant children catching the virus at border patrol centers, and alludes to other security concerns with these facilities. It concludes that HHS shelters are the safest option, even with greater capacity.
- The CDC says that these facilities, operated by the HHS Refugee Resettlement Office, “may temporarily increase capacity to full licensed capacity … while implementing and adhering to strict COVID-19 mitigation measures.”
Between the lines: The memo also describes the terrible problem.
- As reported by Axios, the shelters have received an average of 321 children per day – against 47 per day in the first week of January – and expect to need 20,000 beds to accommodate a record number of migrant children.
- “At the moment, CBP does not have adequate space for physical distance, quarantine of people exposed to COVID-19 or isolation of sick or infected people”, says the memo.
- “As of March 1, 2021, four sectors of the CBP are above the capacity adjusted by COVID.”
Between the lines: The memo also comes amid a fierce national debate over whether and when to reopen schools.
- While stating in its opening paragraph that children were less affected by the coronavirus than adults, the memo makes it clear that its recommendations are only in response to the growing number of migrant children – and do not apply to other group settings.
- The memo was drafted in response to requests for guidance from the Refugee Resettlement Office.