At least 37 kids at Chicago shelter for immigrant youth have coronavirus

A deserted street in Chicago.
(Image credit: Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)

At least 37 children living in a shelter in Chicago for unaccompanied and undocumented youth have been infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus.

The shelter is in the Bronzeville neighborhood, with 69 kids — infants to teens — living in a dormitory-like setting. It is run by the nonprofit Heartland Alliance, which also oversees two other shelters in Chicago. Heartland Alliance told ABC News all of the children in its custody have been tested, and the cases are confined to the Bronzeville shelter, where 76 percent of the 37 kids to test positive were "completely asymptomatic at the time of testing." The nonprofit said the children are "doing well," but would not say if any of its staff members have the virus.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.