Coronavirus in US: 3 Migrant Children In Custody Test Positive for Coronavirus

At a time when migrants should not be entering the U.S., 3 children—who are in custody in New York—tested positive for COVID-19. Officials said that they are currently with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The nationalities and identities of the children weren’t released, USA Today reported. The office’s medical team said it is monitoring the situation closely and is in close contact with the local health department in New York. They said it was important to determine which steps to take next and to collect more information about the situation.

In a statement, the office claimed that they have avoided placements of unaccompanied minors in California, Washington and New York, states which have the highest number of COVID-19 infected. Of these three, New York is on track to become the new epicenter of coronavirus in the United States.

The agency has currently tested 18 children, three of whom had tested positive for coronavirus. Eleven cases have returned negative while 4 more cases are still unresolved.

Meanwhile, Gov. Andrew Cuomo had shared another dark statistic regarding the coronavirus pandemic. According to The New York Times, the death toll in New York has risen to 420, with 100 patients dying in a single day. New York City had 365 deaths recorded as of yesterday.

Only last Wednesday, the governor was optimistic about having a slowdown in the rate of hospitalizations. Yesterday morning, however, came with a rate of 39,000 confirmed cases, 8,000 more than when Gov. Cuomo gave his briefing. The governor did emphasize that these numbers don’t necessarily paint an accurate picture of the damage the virus had caused so far.

As for the ORR, it is currently doing whatever best practices have been done to stop the spread of the virus among the migrant children. They said that if a child showed any symptoms, he or she is immediately medically isolated from the other children while waiting for test results to show whether they are positive or negative for COVID-19.