New York, March 25 (RHC)-- In New York, officials with the Office of Refugee Resettlement have refused to free migrant children who are currently being held in two facilities where staff members tested positive for coronavirus. 

The officials say they will not be released to sponsors, who are usually family members, until quarantines at the facilities are lifted.

New Jersey said it would start releasing as many as 1,000 inmates from county jails starting today to limit the spread of the coronavirus.  In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday 75 prisoners have already been released, and officials were reviewing cases of hundreds more.  At Rikers Island, 39 coronavirus cases have been reported among prisoners and 21 among staff.

Meanwhile in Chicago, local authorities say they are planning to release low-risk prisoners after two inmates at the Cook County Jail tested positive for COVID-19.  A corrections officer at the facility also recently tested positive for the coronavirus.