PILSEN — Migrants at a city-run shelter in Pilsen were startled awake about 1 a.m. Friday and told there was a measles outbreak, the doors were locked, there was a 10-day quarantine — and anyone who left would lose their place there, new arrivals told Block Club.
A confirmed case of measles was found this week in a young child at the shelter, 2241 S. Halsted St. The child is recovering and is no longer contagious, the Chicago Department of Public Health announced early Friday.
Department workers asked shelter residents to remain until they could determine who has been vaccinated and can screen unvaccinated residents for symptoms, according to a health department news release.
Those who can prove they have been vaccinated were allowed to leave starting late in the morning Friday, while others must stay inside the shelter and quarantine. Some are concerned about having to quarantine there, as the shelter has faced criticism for unsanitary conditions and inedible food for months.
Shelter residents and a volunteer said the early-morning announcement of a quarantine — combined with the locked doors and the arrival of police — caused panic and scared new arrivals who were unsure what was happening or how they’d be able to prove they have been vaccinated against measles.
Health department spokespeople did not immediately respond to Block Club’s questions about the incident, saying more information would be released Friday.
“They startled us awake. It was horrible. And then when they told us why they woke us up like that, the news of the outbreak and that we can’t leave and if we do we wouldn’t be let back in, it was even more horrible,” Alejandra, a resident of the shelter, said in Spanish. She asked for her last name to be withheld.
Ruth, another migrant at the shelter who asked for her last name to be withheld, said many of the migrants were angry when city officials woke them up and told them they couldn’t leave.
“There are a lot of children here because this shelter is for families. Locking us in here, then telling us someone was sick, there are a lot of children here. It caused a panic,” Ruth said in Spanish.
City officials arrived with police about 1 a.m. and proceeded to lock the shelter’s door until about 9:30 a.m., Alejandra said.
Alejandra — who has a 7-year-old daughter with her — said she was scared when the doors were locked because she wasn’t sure what was going on.
“The police are gone now, they were here until about 6 a.m., when the rest of the people in the shelter started waking up,” Alejandra said. “They wouldn’t let anyone come or go after the doors were locked.”
City officials started interviewing migrants at the shelter to ask them for vaccination paperwork and to offer measles vaccinations for those that hadn’t had it yet, Alejandra said.
“My daughter was vaccinated a month ago here, and I was vaccinated years ago in Venezuela. I had her paperwork but needed to text family back home to send me a photo of mine,” Alejandra said.
Once everyone was confirmed as previously vaccinated or newly vaccinated, city officials started letting people come and go from the shelter, Alejandra said.
But the manner in which city officials handled the early-morning outbreak communication and vaccination clinic was concerning, Alejandra said.
A volunteer who helps people staying at the shelter said people reached out to her, worried.
“I’m getting these messages from three people living there already, and they’re freaking out. There’s a lot of panic, and they’re scared about not being able to go out,” the volunteer said. “Some people are claiming they already have the vaccination. I just know that they’re scared and some don’t want to be injected because they don’t know what they’re being injected with.”
City agencies will provide masks and other protective equipment to the shelter’s residents and staff, as well as meals for those who have to stay, according to the health department.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), whose ward includes the shelter, released a statement saying residents who have been vaccinated “can go about their normal business,” while unvaccinated people must remain inside while they are watched for symptoms of measles.
But residents are worried about the quarantine and the meals provided at the shelter, they said. They previously had to seek food elsewhere, saying the food served at the shelter is too spicy and has made them sick.
“Kids are getting very sick with the food there. That’s why they have to get a job, in order to buy better food,” the volunteer said. “And why would you come in at 1 a.m. to wake everyone up like that? Everyone’s freaking out telling me they’re being locked in the shelter. The doors are shut. It’s scary.”
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