Dozens of migrant children being held at the San Diego Convention Center have tested positive for COVID-19.
As of late Monday afternoon, 37 girls out of a total 476 tested positive for the virus, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports, citing Bonnie Preston, an official at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Twenty-seven of those girls tested positive before being transferred to the San Diego facility from a Border Patrol station in Texas, according to the report. The unaccompanied minors were put on a special quarantine flight, and when they arrived in San Diego, they were taken to a separate room away from the other migrants.
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Six more girls tested positive for the virus in San Diego and were added to the group of 27. Those who were exposed to the girls who tested positive upon arrival in California were themselves also put in a separate room.
It is unclear how the other four contracted the virus. The Washington Examiner reached out to HHS for more information on the three girls and the department's most up-to-date infection numbers.
The migrants began arriving at the facility on Saturday night. An additional 250 are slated to arrive on Monday evening.
"We’re so blessed at the convention center that it’s so big," Preston told the San Diego news outlet.
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In recent weeks, President Joe Biden has taken heat for his handling of the arrival of these and hundreds of other migrants to the nation's southern border. Photos have shown crowded facilities, and questions have been raised as to the quality of conditions inside them while journalists seeking entry have been met with resistance.
Biden vowed during a press conference last week he will commit to transparency at the U.S.-Mexico border when his "plan" takes root.