Doctors urge Congress to look into flu spreading amid ‘poor conditions’ at migrant facilities

Poor conditions at border detention facilities may have led to the deaths of three migrant children, a group of doctors alleges in a letter to Congress urging lawmakers to investigate the situation. 

The doctors from Harvard and Johns Hopkins University are asking Congress to look into “poor conditions” that “may be amplifying the spread of influenza and other infectious diseases,” according to a copy of the letter reported by The Washington Post.

{mosads}“With so many lives at risk, these issues are worthy of congressional investigation. Another influenza season is around the corner, and there are other types of infectious diseases that pose a threat to detained populations. Timely action is critical,” it reads.

The letter was submitted by Harvard pediatrics professor Jonathan Winickoff, Johns Hopkins public health professors Joshua Sharfstein and Paul Spiegel, two of their master’s students, and San Francisco forensic pathologist Judy Melinek, according to the Post. 

In the letter, doctors reportedly said autopsy results show at least three of the six migrant children who died in government custody died in part as a result of the flu. The doctors said child flu deaths are rare and the migrant deaths are a much higher rate of such incidence than across the general population. 

The letter alleges that the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services may not be following best practices to prevent the flu, the Post reports. 

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman told the Post detainees with the flu, including children, “are handled as appropriate depending on the specific circumstances” and said children who test positive for flu are placed together “as best as possible,” to be separated from other children. 

Democrats have been pushing back on the Trump administration’s policies that they claim are leading to inhumane and unsanitary conditions at border facilities.

Border officials have denied allegations of unsafe conditions while agreeing that they have faced some issues due to overcrowding at the facilities.

—Updated Friday at 2:48 p.m.