Isai RochaA total of 61 children are being treated for COVID-19 between the two migrant shelters at the Pomona Fairplex and Long Beach Convention Center.
The Long Beach shelter saw 47 positive COVID-19 cases out of the 710 unaccompanied children and Pomona recorded 14 cases out of 216 children. The children were all quarantined away from the rest of the children, with an additional 10 siblings joining the isolated group in Long Beach.
“The cases are either all asymptomatic or very mild symptoms,” Zhan Caplan of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a City News Service report. “The children are getting excellent care from UCLA Health, our medical provider.”
The Long Beach Convention Center began taking in the groups of children retrieved at the U.S. and Mexican border in late April, while the Pomona Fairplex took in its first group on Saturday, May 1.
The shelters met with resistance, as protesters vandalized the Long Beach Convention Center after announcing that they would be holding the children. The steps and aisle ways were covered in red paint, while the walls read messages that read, “This is for our children,” and “There is blood on your hands.”
The shelters are expected to be temporary, with Long Beach’s contract set to expire on August and both centers planning to reunite the children with family members.
“These sibling pairs have been found alone and unaccompanied along the border. Our top priority must be family reunification,” Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said about the immigrant children. “These kids deserve our care, love, and support. We will work to ensure that every child is quickly reunited with family.”
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