Measles reported at Chicago migrant shelter

A migrant shelter in Pilsen is on lockdown for one of Chicago’s first measles cases in years.

Public health officials reported the cases of the disease Thursday and confirmed Friday morning that one of the cases was at the shelter at 2241 S. Halsted St., where 5-year-old Jean Carlos “Jeremías” Martinez Rivero had been staying before he died from sepsis caused primarily by strep throat, according to the autopsy.

The child at the shelter who contracted measles has recovered and is no longer contagious, the Chicago Department of Public Health said in a statement. The shelter remains on lockdown until residents are vaccinated.

Chicago officials have struggled to treat migrants at the shelter for months.

In the aftermath of Jeremías’ death in December, the city scrambled to provide health screenings for shelter residents, and public health providers who have been treating thousands of migrants for months decried the lack of health care resources.

At the time, around 2,500 migrants were staying there, about half of them children, and many complained the crowded conditions made getting sick inevitable.

Since then, the number of migrants in shelters has fallen, from a peak of about 15,000 to around 12,000. The city’s Department of Emergency Management and Communications said nearly 2,000 migrants were staying at the shelter Monday.

Measles can be serious, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, especially in children younger than 5. About 1 in 5 people in the U.S. who get measles end up hospitalized; 1 in 1,000 people with measles will wind up with brain swelling, which could cause brain damage; and 1 to 3 out of 1,000 will die, “even with the best care,” according to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

The disease is characterized by spiking fever, pink eye and a rash after flu-like symptoms begin. It is very contagious.

Cases of measles nationwide have been on the rise this year, according to the CDC. Forty-five cases have been reported in 17 states, compared to 58 in all of 2023.

Public health officials said shelter residents who have been vaccinated will be allowed to leave.

Michael Loria is a staff reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.

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