Six people staying at a shelter site in Roxbury housing migrants have contracted chickenpox since it opened at the end of January, though state officials said there is “no current outbreak” of the disease.
A case has not been identified at the Melnea Cass Recreation Complex shelter since March 1, according to a spokesperson for the Executive of Health and Human Services. The spokesperson did not say when the six infections occurred, where the people first contracted the disease, or the ages of those infected.
Each person was isolated with their family members at “another location until they were no longer contagious,” the spokesperson said in a statement to the Herald. The Department of Public Health performed skin checks on “all children” at the times the cases were identified and told all families to alert staff if any new rashes appeared or if they felt unwell, the official said.
Two vaccine clinics were held March 1 and March 3 at the Melnea Cass shelter site to vaccinate all people who were exposed to chickenpox, the spokesperson said.
The Department of Public Health also “reviewed all cleaning protocols at the site to continue to ensure prevention of disease at the site.”
“(The Department of Public Health) has been in close communication with both the Boston Public Schools and Boston Public Health Commission and kept them updated about the situation,” the spokesperson said.
Chickenpox is a “highly contagious disease” that can cause an itchy, blister-like rash, among other symptoms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A “very safe and effective” vaccine can prevent the disease, the agency said.
Boston Public Schools spokesman Max Baker said five chickenpox cases were detected in five classrooms across three schools. Parents were alerted to watch for symptoms and stay vigilant, Baker said.
There is “no outbreak concern” at Boston Public Schools and the last known case was detected on March 1, Baker said.
Dozens of children from the Melnea Cass shelter have been enrolled in Boston Public Schools, Superintendent Marry Skipper said at the start of February.
The shelter site at the Melnea Cass Recreation Complex is one of four run by the state in the Greater Boston area that temporarily house families who are waitlisted for emergency shelter placement. State officials have said the shelter is scheduled to close May 31.
Other state-run locations include an old courthouse in Cambridge, a college in Quincy, and an undisclosed site in Revere.
Another set of overflow shelters are set up under a $5 million grant program administered by the United Way of Massachusetts Bay that Gov. Maura Healey launched last year. One of those sites includes a Fort Point shelter.
More than 750 families were on the waitlist for shelter as of Tuesday, according to a spokesperson for the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, which helps oversee shelter operations in Massachusetts.
About half of the families in shelters are considered to be migrants from other countries while the rest are local residents. The state is required to provide shelter to families with children and pregnant people under a decades-old right-to-shelter law.
Regulations governing the system extend shelter eligibility to “noncitizens” or a “noncitizen lawfully admitted for permanent residence or otherwise permanently residing under color of law” in the United States.
Diseases have popped up in shelters elsewhere in the country.
The Chicago Department of Public Health warned in December 2023 that it had seen “an increase” in chickenpox cases in the previous month, especially among “people newly arrived from the U.S. southern border living in shelters.”
“Schools should ensure incoming students are vaccinated against chickenpox according to the (Illinois Department of Public Health) minimum immunization requirements for schools,” the department said in a Dec. 14 alert.
Measles cases connected to the largest migrant shelter in Chicago also popped up this week, with local officials saying they were the first cases in five years.
