Camp East Montana, an immigrant detention center in East El Paso, had an unannounced quarantine this month after four female detainees were exposed to varicella, also known as chickenpox.
An additional 55 detainees were identified as secondary contacts, meaning they interacted with someone exposed to chickenpox, but not directly with an infected person.
All chickenpox exposures occurred at an unidentified Arizona facility before the detainees were transferred to Camp East Montana, said Vanessa Casner, the city of El Paso’s lead epidemiologist.
Camp East Montana staff reported the chickenpox exposures occurred June 28 and a member of Loyal Source, the facility’s medical subcontractor, notified the El Paso Department of Public Health on July 8. Authorities did not provide the name of the Arizona facility that had chickenpox, Casner said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to questions from El Paso Matters, including about whether communication had improved with the local health department.
El Paso health authority, Dr. Hector Ocaranza, warned in June that slow communication from ICE threatens the city’s outbreak response.
An El Paso Matters investigation revealed how information gaps frustrated the health department’s attempts at containing a measles outbreak earlier this year that had spread from ICE detention centers into the community. The city reported 24 measles cases in the community and among detainees at Camp East Montana in February and March.
Camp East Montana locked down during the measles outbreak, but typically remains open to visitors when exposed detainees are quarantined and there are no confirmed cases.
“It is important to note that the facility uses the term ‘quarantine’ to refer broadly to monitoring and cohorting of individuals following an exposure,” Casner wrote.
The monitoring period for the recent chickenpox exposures at Camp East Montana ended July 19. There were no reported cases, and therefore no reported exposures to workers, visitors or the community, Casner said.
Facility authorities also informed the health department July 2 about a man exposed to measles at an unnamed location, but later determined the detainee had not been exposed. Monitoring for that person was discontinued over the weekend, Casner said.
Since the measles outbreak this year, the health department has been notified of three exposure monitoring periods at Camp East Montana, including the recent chickenpox one.
The first monitoring period followed a May 27 exposure and ended June 17. Medical staff placed nearly 180 detainees in quarantine after more than a dozen of them interacted with people with confirmed measles cases at a detention facility in Arizona.
The second monitoring period, following a June 17 measles exposure, ended July 8, according to a timeline provided by the health department. No one monitored during those periods tested positive for measles, Casner said.
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