BON AIR, VA (Associated Press) — Coronavirus has erupted inside a juvenile detention center in Virginia where officials said Friday 25 kids tested positive.
That accounts for a quarter of all cases reported at youth facilities nationwide.
Children’s rights advocates and health experts have been warning state officials for weeks that it was just a matter of time before the virus took off inside juvenile facilities.
They have called on Gov. Ralph Northam to start releasing as many children as safely possible from centers, including at the newly hit Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center outside Richmond.
More than half the 97 kids who have tested positive are in Virginia and Louisiana.