CHICAGO — The city is ramping up vaccination clinics after two new measles cases were identified at a city-run shelter for migrants in Pilsen, this time in two adults, health department officials said Monday afternoon.
This brings the number of confirmed measles cases in Chicago to five since last week, when the health department announced the first confirmed case in a Chicago resident.
The two adults with measles at the Pilsen shelter, 2241 S. Halsted St., are both stable, according to the health department news release. Two children at the Pilsen shelter were previously found to have measles. The first child is no longer contagious and has recovered, and the second child is hospitalized and in good condition, officials said.
Before last week, measles cases had not been confirmed in Chicago since 2019.
More Than 900 Vaccinated
The health department is working with partners to screen residents of the shelter for symptoms of measles and get them vaccinated, according to the news release.
Health department officials asked families at the shelter to keep school-aged children who are unvaccinated from attending school Monday out of an abundance of caution, according to a Chicago Public Schools statement.
The child who is hospitalized with measles attends a CPS school, and families and staff there have been notified, according to the district.
Over the weekend, teams from the city and county health departments, Rush University Medical Center and the University of Illinois at Chicago assessed nearly all residents of the Pilsen shelter and successfully vaccinated more than 900 people there with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, according to the health department news release.
More than 700 shelter residents assessed were already immune to the virus from previous vaccination or infection and are allowed to come and go from the shelter, officials said.
Newly vaccinated asylum seekers have been instructed to remain at the shelter for 21 days from the date of vaccination, which is when the vaccine confers full immunity, according to the news release.
In addition to the vaccination clinics at the Pilsen shelter, the Office of Emergency Management and Communications is now coordinating with the city’s health department to start assessing and vaccinating new arrivals at the landing zone as part of the intake process, according to the news release.
Asylum seekers living at the Pilsen shelter who are immune to measles have been moved to a different shelter to help with “quarantine logistics,” which will also involve self-isolation in designated hotel spaces, according to the news release.
Other shelters will have “provider teams” drop by to provide MMR vaccinations to those who need it to help mitigate the spread of measles, according to the news release.
“As long as measles circulates in Chicago, we will continue to take a proactive approach to protecting as many people as we can from this highly infectious disease,” said health department commissioner Dr. Olusimbo Ige.
Panic At Pilsen Shelter
The city’s efforts have been controversial: Migrants at the Pilsen shelter said officials woke them up at 1 a.m. Friday to announce a measles outbreak, then locked the doors and said there was a quarantine — and anyone who left would lose their place.
The announcement caused panic among migrants, some told Block Club.
Migrants who have been able to prove they’re vaccinated have been allowed to leave the shelter, but those who can’t must stay inside in the shelter, according to the city.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez’s (25th) staff headed to the Pilsen shelter Sunday to help city officials address the outbreak with language translation and “culturally related barriers,” the alderman said in a statement.
“It is imperative to the [Pilsen shelter] residents and Chicago residents at large to get the [measles] vaccine. Residents of the 2241 S. Halsted St. shelter who were vaccinated after Feb. 8 are strongly encouraged to remain in quarantine at the shelter for 21 days,” Sigcho-Lopez said in the statement.
The city’s health department has been working to vaccinate the remaining 13 percent of shelter residents who have not presented proof of vaccination, Sigcho-Lopez said in the statement.
What To Know About Measles
Measles is rare in Chicago because there is a high vaccination rate in the city, but reports of cases have increased in the United States, according to the city health department.
The measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, known as the MMR vaccine, is “extremely effective” at preventing the illness and providing protection to people, according to the health department. The measles vaccine is widely available to people 1 and older.
Measles is highly contagious and can be dangerous for unvaccinated people, particularly babies and young children, according to the health department.
Symptoms of measles include rash, high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes, according to the health department. It can take seven to 21 days for symptoms to appear after a person was exposed.
Anyone who has symptoms of measles should call their doctor or an emergency department before going there in person so the staff can make arrangements to protect other people.
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