Several units at the facility are under quarantine as the number of those testing positive for COVID-19 more than doubled in the span of a few days.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Adelanto is in the grips of a COVID-19 outbreak, according to federal officials. The confirmed case count more than doubled within a few days.
From the start of the pandemic until Sunday, 14 people had tested positive for the coronavirus — all of them new detainees who tested positive upon arrival at the facility — Department of Justice lawyer Hans Chen said in an email to lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.
Adelanto staff have routinely tested newly arriving detainees but not those already held at the facility unless they presented severe symptoms, including fever, advocates say. But on Tuesday, new cases had emerged in two units at the facility, each housing about 40 detainees. Staff then decided to test all detainees in those units, Chen said.By Wednesday, 38 more people had tested positive, he said. Those two units have been placed in quarantine, while 42 other people in the facility await test results. Staff are conducting contact tracing for all infected detainees, he said.
Reports began circulating among detainees and advocates late last week that multiple units in the facility were under quarantine, with many detainees experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and some staff members hospitalized. ACLU lawyers, who are leading a class-action lawsuit over conditions inside the facility during the pandemic, had asked lawyers for ICE to respond.
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