Riverside County has received about 2,000 asylum seekers since early March, and approximately half have been transported to isolation and quarantine hotels following positive tests for COVID-19, county spokesperson Brooke Federico said Tuesday.
The statistics underscore why the state decided to set up a COVID-19 testing site for asylum-seeking immigrants in Indio. According to now-retired Indio City Manager Mark Scott, the city learned last week that the state had leased the building at 82025 Highway 111 near Monroe Street.
"I knew it was coming," Scott said Tuesday. However, he said Indio was not involved as "the state does not require approvals, including lease approvals," from the city.