Why Chelsea, a city that remains in the red zone, can’t beat high COVID-19 clusters

BOSTON — For months now, since the start of the pandemic, I have been reporting from Chelsea, where the virus continues to hit this community particularly hard.

This is a community filled with hard working immigrants, mostly from Central and South America.

“I need to pay my rent, support my kid. And I have no money, no money,” said “Carlos”, a Chelsea resident.

We met Carlos while he was standing in line at a food pantry.

He’s an undocumented immigrant who made a tough trip to the U.S. from Mexico.

“I was walking whole night, whole days sometimes, and no sleep, no eat. I sleep in the mountain, sometimes we don’t take a shower for one week,” said Carlos.

Carlos, like thousands of others in the city, migrated to Chelsea, hoping for a better life.

Chelsea is a sanctuary city, which provides an added layer of protection for immigrants, and most can barely put food on the table without help.

“If you come next week, this is gone. Keep filling up the shelf,” said Yessenia Alfaro, a volunteer at La Colaborativa.

Thousands of people a week line up outside of La Colaborativa, an agency the city of Chelsea works with to help the immigrant population.

Most of the residents in Chelsea here we spoke to tell us they were working at restaurants, they were working at hotels and cleaning jobs, anything to get by, and even that right now is scarce.

“We live in a community, rent is very high,” said Gladys Vega, who runs La Colaborativa.

We sat down with Gladys Vega who runs La Colaborativa, which helps place residents in homes across the city.

She says, a one bedroom apartment will run at least $1,400, and sometimes, 10-15 people, sometimes total strangers, live together in one apartment. Eventually, they get evicted and are placed in a hotel.

“The money runs out, I have to relocate them. Once again, I’m sending this family to a larger family for them to live in,” said Vega.

Many of them end up on the streets of Chelsea feeling hopeless.

“Some of the homeless will congregate get together, and put a camp site, just to stay warm,” said Chelsea Police Chief Brian Kyes.

It’s a sight that Kyes sees far too often.

“It’s incredibly heartbreaking, these are hardworking people,” said Kyes.

“I’d rather see them living in overcrowded, then under a bridge,” said Vega.

And that’s where our story takes you to this cell phone video of a now empty apartment in Chelsea.

An apartment that is shared with multiple families, all of them strangers, using the same bathroom, sharing the same kitchen, all while potentially spreading the deadly virus.

Maria, who only wants to share her first name lives in an apartment with close to 10 people.

The 36-year-old was in tears as we sat on the steps of her apartment, talking about her near death experience with COVID-19, as she was hospitalized for one month.

“Pain, fever. Tired breathing,” said Maria.

Maria said she doesn’t have a choice but to let strangers live with her and her family in their apartment, because she lost her job at a McDonald’s, and barely has any money to get by.

“Go their own separate ways, they don’t really interact with us,” said Brian, her 15-year-old son.

Often times, her son said he struggles with remote learning because of the overcrowding situation.

“We are doing what we can as a small city,” said Tom Ambrosino, Chelsea’s city manager who added the city is using its own funding, and the remaining CARES act money.

“I’m concerned that these economic impact is going to linger even when the pandemic winds down,” said Ambrosino.

The bottom line, Ambrosino said, is the city needs more federal funding.

While, families are forced to take it day-by-day, they’re relying on each other to survive.

“Process that we are using is just a Band-Aid,” said Vega.

“There is hope here in Chelsea. We could have help if people are struggling,” said Brian.

These families are forced to couch surf is the best way to describe it. So many families tell us, there isn’t a day that goes by where they don’t cry.

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