{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,25]],"date-time":"2026-02-25T21:10:41Z","timestamp":1772053841049,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":22,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]],"date-time":"2023-01-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1673481600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background<\/jats:title><jats:p>Elements associated with an increased risk factor for the contagion of COVID-19 in shelters include the turnover and overcrowding of people, time spent in communal areas, daily supply needs, water availability, and sanitation levels. The \u201cReport on the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Migrants and Refugees,\u201d shows that factors such as the shortage of food, supplies, water, sanitizing materials, spaces for healthy distancing, financial resources for rent and essential services, and the lack of medical or psychological care complicated providing care for migrants and applicants seeking international protection.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title><jats:p>We describe shelter operations regarding the detection and follow-up of suspected and confirmed COVID-19 cases showing mild symptoms among the migrant population housed in the border cities under study.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>We conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with study subjects (people in charge, managers, coordinators, shelter directors) from 22 migrant shelters, and 30 with key informants. We studied the cities of Tijuana (Baja California), Nogales (Sonora), Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez (Chihuahua), Piedras Negras (Coahuila), and Heroica Matamoros (Tamaulipas). The research was based on a qualitative methodological design with an ethnographic approach. The information collected was transcribed and systematized into two tables or analytical templates, one for interviews with study subjects, and another for interviews with key actors.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Findings<\/jats:title><jats:p>Overall, seventy-eight registered shelters provided accommodation services for migrants in the five cities the study focused on: thirty-seven in Tijuana, five in Nogales, twenty-two in Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, eight in Piedras Negras, and five plus a camp (six in total) in Matamoros. The major concentration of shelters was in Tijuana (47.4%) and Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez (28.2%). At the beginning of the pandemic, only a few shelter facilities met quarantine and isolation guidelines, such as having separate bathrooms and sufficient space to isolate the \u201casymptomatic\u201d and \u201cconfirmed\u201d from close \u201ccontacts\u201d. The lack of isolation space and the inability to support the monitoring of patients with COVID-19 posed a challenge for those housed in shelters, forcing many shelters to close or continue operating behind closed doors to avoid becoming a source of infection during the pandemic.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion and outlook<\/jats:title><jats:p>Contrary to speculation, during the onset of the pandemic northern border migrant shelters did not become sources of COVID-19 infection. According to the data analyzed from 78 shelters only seven had confirmed cases, and the classification of \u201coutbreak\u201d was applied only in two facilities. Contagion control or containment was successful as the result of following a preventive containment logic, including the isolation of all suspected but unconfirmed cases, without a clear understanding of the human and financial resources required to maintain isolation areas. However, shelters in the study implemented protocols for epidemiological surveillance, control, and prevention with elements that interfered with monitoring spaces, and processes that caused oversights that resulted in underestimating the number of cases.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Limitations<\/jats:title><jats:p>Due to travel restrictions imposed to prevent and contain coronavirus infections it was impossible to stay on-site in the cities studied, except for Tijuana, or carry-out recordings of migrants' views in shelters.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2022.980808","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]],"date-time":"2023-01-12T05:41:09Z","timestamp":1673502069000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["The epidemiological follow-up process for suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19 in migrant shelters on the northern border of Mexico from July to December 2020: Between contagion underestimation and containment"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Mar\u00eda Gudelia","family":"Rangel G\u00f3mez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rodolfo","family":"Cruz-Pi\u00f1eiro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Valentina","family":"Cappelletti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ana Mar\u00eda","family":"L\u00f3pez Jaramillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","unstructured":"Actualizaci\u00f3n de la estrategia frente a la COVID-19"},{"key":"B2","unstructured":"De los lugares de espera a los territorios de la espera. Una nueva dimensi\u00f3n de la geograf\u00eda social?30524\n            MussetA\n          Documents d'An\u00e0lisi Geogr\u00e0fica.612015"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"4","DOI":"10.33679\/rfn.v1i1.2075","article-title":"Espacios de estancia prolongada para la poblaci\u00f3n migrante centroamericana en tr\u00e1nsito por M\u00e9xico","volume":"33","author":"Jasso","year":"2021","journal-title":"Frontera Norte"},{"key":"B4","unstructured":"Del MonteA\n            y Par\u00eds PomboD\n          Informe sobre las condiciones de estancia en el campamento de refugiados del Chaparral en la frontera de Tijuana2021"},{"key":"B5","volume-title":"Bolet\u00edn Mensual de Estad\u00edsticas Migratorias","year":"2020"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.4000\/remi.14452","article-title":"The perception of violence in narratives of central american migrants at the border between Mexico and the United States","author":"Odgers-Ortiz","year":"2022","journal-title":"Revue europ\u00e9enne des migrations internationals"},{"key":"B7","first-page":"340","article-title":"Migrantes en albergues en las ciudades fronterizas del norte de M\u00e9xico","volume-title":"Ciencias Sociales en acci\u00f3n: Respuestas frente al Covid 19 desde el norte de M\u00e9xico","author":"Coub\u00e8s","year":"2020"},{"key":"B8","volume-title":"Informe sobre los efectos de la pandemia de COVID-19 en las personas migrantes y refugiadas violaciones a derechos humanos documentadas por organizaciones defensoras y albergues en M\u00e9xico","year":"2020"},{"key":"B9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e007202","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2021-007202","article-title":"The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among migrants in shelters in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico","volume":"7","author":"Bojorquez-Chapela","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMJ Global Health."},{"key":"B10","first-page":"53","article-title":"Capacidades de la sociedad civil en Tijuana para atender y proteger a la poblaci\u00f3n migrante","volume-title":"Migrantes haitianos y centroamericanos en Tijuana, Baja California, 2016\u20132017. Pol\u00edticas gubernamentales y acciones de la sociedad civil","author":"Albicker","year":"2019"},{"key":"B11","volume-title":"Recomendaciones sanitarias para refugios temporales y Centros de Aislamiento Voluntario (CAV) en el contexto de Covid-19","year":"2020"},{"key":"B12","unstructured":"2020"},{"key":"B13","unstructured":"El cierre de la frontera estadunidense y los solicitantes de asilo bloqueados en el norte de M\u00e9xico\n            Par\u00eds PomboD\n          Nexus2020"},{"key":"B14","article-title":"La externalizaci\u00f3n del asilo a la frontera Norte de M\u00e9xico: protocolos de protecci\u00f3n al migrante","volume-title":"Migraciones en M\u00e9xico: fronteras, omisiones y transgresiones Informe 2019","author":"Pombo","year":"2021"},{"key":"B15","article-title":"Comunidades de inmigrantes \u201catrapadas\u201d en los procesos de control de la libre circulaci\u00f3n: consecuencias de la intensificaci\u00f3n de la vigilancia en la zona fronteriza","volume-title":"Migraci\u00f3n y Seguridad: nuevo desaf\u00edo en M\u00e9xico","author":"N\u00fa\u00f1ez","year":"2007"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.4000\/remi.6922","article-title":"Fige\u00e9s dans le mouvement : p\u00e9riodes et espaces d'attente des migrants mexicains expuls\u00e9s des \u00c9tats-Unis","volume":"30","author":"Odgers-Ortiz","year":"2014","journal-title":"Revue europ\u00e9enne des migrations internationals"},{"key":"B17","unstructured":"RuizA\n          Un a\u00f1o despu\u00e9s del Acuerdo Estados Unidos-M\u00e9xico: La transformaci\u00f3n de las pol\u00edticas migratorias mexicanas2020"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1525\/luminos.33","volume-title":"Protect, Serve, and Deport. The Rise of Policing as Immigration Enforcement","author":"Armenta","year":"2017"},{"key":"B19","unstructured":"Migrant Protection Protocols2019"},{"key":"B20","unstructured":"ArielR\n          Un a\u00f1o despu\u00e9s del Acuerdo Estados Unidos-M\u00e9xico: La transformaci\u00f3n de las pol\u00edticas migratorias mexicanas2020"},{"key":"B21","volume-title":"Los desaf\u00edos de la migraci\u00f3n y los albergues como oasis. Encuesta Nacional de personas migrantes en tr\u00e1nsito por M\u00e9xico","year":"2018"},{"key":"B22","unstructured":"La sociedad civil organizada responde al impacto de pol\u00edticas p\u00fablicas: Las pol\u00edticas sociales como factor causal del rol asistencialista de organizaciones de la sociedad civil (OSC) pro migrantes en Tijuana181209\n            Rinc\u00f3n GaburdelE\n          Gesti\u00f3n y pol\u00edtica p\u00fablica272018"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.980808\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]],"date-time":"2023-01-12T05:41:21Z","timestamp":1673502081000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.980808\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]]},"references-count":22,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2022.980808"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2022.980808","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,12]]},"article-number":"980808"}}